New school likely to serve Base needs in future

On February 13, representatives of the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton met to discuss the elementary school needs of 147 Marine families who will reside in new on-base homes planned for completion by 2009. One hundred three of the new homes will be in the San Luis Rey Housing area that affects Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School, and 44 homes are going into its San Mateo Housing area, from which students attend San Onofre Elementary School, said Janice Schultz, superintendent of the district. Schultz attended the meeting along with school administrators Ray Proctor, Carol Hilke and Lynne Gilstrap, principal of Mary Fay Pendleton, along with Lt. Col. Sam Pelham and Base Housing Director Lt. Col. Reid Merrill from Camp Pendleton.

There are eight phases for upgrading and adding to base housing between 2007 and 2010, according to Schultz. The 147 new homes represent Phase 5 of the Marine Corps’ long-range housing construction plans. In addition, a Phase 4 project nearing completion involves deconstruction of a mobile home park on the base to make room for 250 more homes, says Schultz. Removal of the existing park facilities is 60 percent done now and will be completed in June, according to Lt. Col. Pelham.

Finally, under discussion is a Phase 6 project that calls for 750 more homes. “There is no timeline for the start of construction, nor occupancy, at this time,” says Schultz.

At present, 800 children attend K through 6 classes at Mary Fay Pendleton. San Onofre School is K through 8. However, the two schools can expand to accommodate 200 more children, Schultz says.

A new school will ultimately be needed, but its location and type is unknown. Two things determine the type and location of a new school. Much depends on the occupants of the planned housing. If there are families of enlisted personnel who are most likely to have small children, some students can be absorbed into Mary Fay Pendleton and San Onofre because of space available at those schools. However, if the new families represent officers or personnel with military occupations that are not transitory in nature, they often have older children; thus, there may be fewer students to accommodate.

Further, depending on the ultimate location of the Phase 6 homes, a new school might be built in the Oceanside or San Clemente districts. In either case, no firm plans for building a new school will be made until the Marine Corps releases its demographics on the new families.

Schultz says if a new school is ultimately necessary – a very likely prospect, she adds – the district will be responsible for financing and building it. “We broached the possibility of the Marine Corps including the construction of a school in their bidding guidelines. Lt. Col. Merrill was doubtful that this would be of interest to the Marine Corps, as that would reduce the number of homes that could be built.”

Districts that educate children of military personnel qualify for federal funding, referred to as “impact funds,” but the income is not sufficient to pay for construction. If a new school is built, it would have to be funded traditionally, such as from a bond issue. Schultz says the district owns three acres of property on Camp Pendleton that could be used for building a school but adds, “For the next three or four years, we’re good.”

Housing on Camp Pendleton has been limited for years, requiring both enlisted personnel and officers to seek off-base housing. Most personnel would prefer to live on base, says Lt. Col. Pelham. This is true particularly of those families with a family member who faces an immediate deployment to a war zone. An average tour of duty for personnel assigned to an individual base is three years, says Pelham. On-base housing is determined by tour orders and a waiting list.

Regardless of the current or future needs, schools that serve children of military families are unique in the way they manage the academic environment of their students, says Lynne Gilstrap. Since the students live in a transitory world, often moving every two to three years, they face new academic standards at each new school. California scholastic requirements are extremely tough, she says. Moreover, with each move, children lose friends and familiar surroundings, which contributes to the stress of learning. It’s for this reason Camp Pendleton schools are designed around the neighborhood school concept.

As a result, school-centered activities help bond families around common goals that give children consistency and help offset stress, allowing them to “catch up and keep up,” Gilstrap says. Families living on base naturally gravitate toward each other around the school activities of their children. Many students live in one-parent homes for extended periods of time, so forming friendships around school events eases family friction and provides spousal support.

“We have a 60-percent turnover each year,” says Gilstrap. In addition, while most California schools have a diverse ethnic population, at Mary Fay Pendleton for example, there are 28 different ethnicities. Although in many bilingual families no English may be spoken, in a military family at least one adult member is fluent in English. The students might have difficulty adjusting at first, says Gilstrap, but they bring with them a greater understanding of the world. Many have lived in other countries and most have experienced school in other states.

Home builder for the base housing is Hunt Building Company, Ltd., one of the nation’s leaders in military housing.