IMPERIAL BEACH –
Campuses in the South Bay Union School District have an image problem. They don't look like they're crumbling at a time when voters have to decide whether to pay more taxes to fix them.
But they're 40, 50, 60 years old, and they show their age to those who spend enough time in them.
For example, there are no temperature controls in the classrooms at Nestor Elementary School. Students often find themselves blowing into their hands to stay warm on cold days, or struggling to stay awake in stultifying heat during hot ones.
That's why sixth-grade teacher Irene Pérez said she hopes Proposition X passes Nov. 4. It would give South Bay Union permission to borrow $59.4 million to fix things like heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems. All 10 kindergarten through sixth-grade elementary schools and the district's preschool would get a long list of repairs.
Campaign chairman Dick Pilgrim, a retired educator who lives in Imperial Beach, said the improvements are urgent, but you have to look “underneath the paint” to see them.
Proposition X
by the numbers
If Proposition X passes, South Bay schools could get the following amounts for improvements.
Bayside: $7,535,000
Berry:$6,858,000
Central:$4,714,000
Emory:$5,912,000
Imperial Beach:$6,254,000
Mendoza:$2,257,000
Nestor:$8,302,000
Nicoloff:$6,608,000
Oneonta:$7,104,000
Pence:$7,041,000
Sunnyslope: $9,074,000
VIP: $2,420,000
West View: $3,883,000
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The cost will be plain to see. It's $30 for every $100,000 in assessed value of homes and businesses in the district, which includes Imperial Beach, Nestor and small sections of Otay Mesa and San Ysidro. That's $150 if your home's assessed at $500,000.
The surcharge could last 40 years in a community that is already shouldering the burden of one elementary school, one community college and two high school bond measures. Proposition X needs the approval of 55 percent of voters to pass.
It would help students right now. Pérez said the air conditioning shuts off automatically after lunch, so her afternoon science classes, the after-school programs and staff meetings are difficult on hot days.
“It's very hard to keep focused because it's just so hot,” Pérez said.
The scent that sweaty sixth-graders bring in from the playground doesn't help the ambience either, she said. Yet, she also asks each student to keep a sweater in the classroom in case the air conditioning kicks in, and she has to pause from teaching and move students away from the ceiling vents when it does.
Principal Patty Valdivia compared working and learning at Nestor to living in an old home where you can't flush the toilet while someone's showering.
It can be much, much worse. One day in June a repair crew had to shut off the school's water to fix an old leaky pipe that had flooded a classroom. Nearly 1,000 kindergarten through sixth-graders were informed they couldn't flush for about 90 minutes.
Valdivia didn't go into much detail about what happened next, other than to say, “It was kind of an 'ucky' day.”
Imperial Beach Elementary School teacher Susy Chavez said Proposition X will put give her students the technology they deserve. She had a huge interactive white board last year as a fifth-grade teacher but lost it when she switched to third grade.
Students could manipulate images and words on the board, click on Internet sites and learn by touch, sight and sound.
“They were more engaged. They were more interested in participating,” she said. “It served as an additional resource, an additional strategy for them to learn the concept.”
This year, Chavez is back to overhead projectors and a television screen that students have to crowd around to read the small lettering. If Proposition X passes, the district plans to spend millions on the white boards at $8,000 each.
Even seemingly small projects such as screening for chain-link fences at Imperial Beach Elementary would help, said Principal Matt Carlton. An alley behind a Mar Vista High gymnasium abuts his campus to the west. It's an area not visible to adults at the high school but plenty visible to his students, and he has to shoo away first-graders to prevent them from witnessing the older students' shenanigans.
South Bay Union officials forecast that if Proposition X passes, the state will kick in an additional $17 million for school repairs and upgrades, and with nearly $4 million in district savings set aside for technology. The building program could total more than $80 million.
The district's proposed list of school-by-school improvements can be found at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/voters /Eng/proptext/X.pdf, and includes fire alarms, renovated restrooms, upgrades to cafeteria kitchens and projects to increase access for disabled students and employees.
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association has endorsed Proposition X. It insisted that South Bay Union distinguish guaranteed projects from tentative ones. South Bay Union has done so by by italicizing the projects that aren't guaranteed.
The ballot measure comes when the district is losing students rapidly, shrinking its state funding and forcing difficult spending cuts.
In fact, $12 million of the $80 million is reserved for two schools – Bayside and West View elementaries – that were candidates to be closed two years ago.
Nonetheless, campaign chairman Pilgrim says now is the time for Proposition X.
“Interest rates are staying low. We'll probably be starting construction at a time when construction is low, and, therefore, construction costs will be less,” Pilgrim said. “I think we're going to get more bang for our buck with construction costs lower, and I think we're going to benefit the community by providing some jobs in this tough time.”
Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637; chris.moran@uniontrib.com
