Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Ortega appointed to BUSD board

At the end of a four-hour long meeting March 8, members of the Bonsall Unified School District board voted to appoint Eric Ortega to the seat left open when Dr. Erin English resigned in January.

Seven people applied for the position and each was given seven minutes to talk about themselves and their qualifications. This took place after members of the audience had a chance to tell the board about issues regarding Bonsall schools that are important to them.

Somewhere around 100 people attended the meeting, a higher than usual number. After reports from several parent organizations, superintendent David Jones and the board members talked about violence in schools. Jones said they are "generally concerned about gun violence" and "are thinking about systems and trainings to make our schools the safest they can be."

Board member Sylvia Tucker acknowledged "our responsibility in the situation" saying, "Everyone who comes into contact with the students affects them psychologically, emotionally, academically, spiritually; more learning takes place in a safe environment."

Board member Dick Olson said, "Law enforcement is not the only answer. People will go to baseball bats if they don't have guns." A retired police lieutenant, he said they need to beef up security and insist on background checks as security is "the most important subject facing us." He added that they need to offer teachers the same protection as students.

Sixteen people signed up for the public comments section, each getting three minutes to address the board. Ten spoke in favor of building a new high school on Gird Road, pointing out that the school population is growing with no place to put more students.

Christine Benson told the board, "Give us the right to vote; this is a community issue." For Kent Schumann, there is "one logical place to go" and use the democratic approach. "Let the community vote. If both sides are not completely happy, it is a good deal. It should not be a hard decision. Put it to a vote," he said.

Bonsall resident Joe Beyer said, "We need outreach to Teresa Platt and Save Gird Valley (group). I would love to live next to the new high school. I like the sounds of a high school...Camp Pendleton is the sound of freedom and a high school is the sound of the future."

Teresa Platt thanked Jones for holding the collaborative discussion the week before but said "transparency is still an issue with this school district [as well as with the Vallecitos and Fallbrook districts]." She said she would like to have recordings of the board meetings online so people could listen to them at home. She also asked that the comment period for the DEIR (draft environmental impact report) be extended as the invitation to comment sent to the Fallbrook Community Planning Group was mailed to the wrong location. As for the new high school, she asked the board members, "Are you a willing seller of the Grid Road site?"

Three speakers talked about the board's resolution to change the Career Technical Education teacher at the high school from a full time position to a part-time position.

All spoke against that move citing the mission of the high school, which is to prepare students for careers.

Teacher Danny Costa pointed out that the WASC accreditation committee said, "We need further development and alignment of career curriculum." He also brought up the shortage of resources (no counselor, no assistant principal) and lack of services (college counseling, mental health). The board promised to reevaluate that resolution.

A construction update for the high school was presented. No comments have been received yet on the DEIR. They are due March 22. Options for housing the growing student body were reviewed with facilities director David Medcalf. An inventory of buildings was requested. At this point, the baseball field at the middle school-high school site was reported as the best site for interim housing considering the location of the sewer line and cost of extending it. The cost of putting in 23 portable classrooms would be $8 to $10 million. More research is to be done on this and other options.

The interview and appointment of the new board member item was moved to the end of the agenda (after several housekeeping items) at the beginning of the meeting. After each applicant spoke, the board members asked him or her questions and then voted. The first vote yielded three finalists: engineer Roger Merchat, lawyer Michael Gaddis, and radio broadcaster Eric Ortega.

Merchat also has a background in school bonds as he and his wife have been investing in them for years and he has done extensive research on them. His son attended Bonsall schools before graduating from Fallbrook High School in 2012.

Gaddis is a trained negotiator and an experienced problem solver. He had a "challenged childhood" but turned his life around through education. He has two children in Bonsall schools.

Ortega lives on the Pala Indian Reservation and works at Pala Rez Radio. His seven children, two grandchildren and two foster children have been or are students in the district. Ortega said because of a negative experience he had at Fallbrook High School when he went there, he wants to develop culture at Bonsall High School and help students learn each other's culture and differences.

The result of the second vote by the board was exactly the same as the first vote. During the continuing discussion, the teachers union representative let the board know that the union was in favor of Ortega being appointed to the board.

The final vote was 3-1, appointing Ortega to the school board. Jones conducted the swearing in of Ortega immediately after the vote.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an updated version of the article that ran in the newspaper. The quote from Teresa Platt has been corrected.

 
 

Reader Comments(1)

SaveGirdValley writes:

NOTE: Teresa Platt's quote in the hard copy edition was incorrect. Platt did NOT praise the Superintendent for transparency as was reported by the VN; she criticized BUSD for lack of transparency. Working from a recording made by Platt, the VN corrected this in the online version of the article. Platt also pushed BUSD to address its traffic/accidents/parking problems by implementing a carpool program across the entire district. For more on these issues, visit SaveGirdValley.com Thank you!

 
 
 
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