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The trustees of the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District held a three-plus-hour meeting on May 15 to assess the achievements and setbacks of the year and look ahead to the opportunities and challenges they face as they prepare for the next session.
The trustees covered an array of topics with more than 35 agenda items. The meeting included a presentation on the survey conducted by financial advisor Dale Scott on a possible bond to help raise additional funds for school improvements in light of much of the district’s resources being taken up by the pending rebuilding of San Juan School. The survey was conducted at the end of February and drawn from 106 responses by district residents.
Of those surveyed:
- 50% expressed a familiarity with the district, having had children or grandchildren who attended one of the three schools.
- 87% of respondents agreed that the schools were the community’s main asset and worthy of being its main priority.
- 90% said that they believed quality schools increased property values.
Sixty-four percent of respondents were unfamiliar with the district’s completed projects under 2020’s Measure M, with 24% saying the district had been successful and 14% disagreeing.
When asked if they could, with no additional information, support a $44 million bond measure to update and renovate classrooms and enhance programs for career/college readiness, science and technology, 59% agreed and 10% leaned toward agreeing.
When presented with specific programs that the school would be able to fund, such as workshops on robotics and engineering, repair of leaking roofs, updated fire alarms, expanded mental health services and renovated classrooms, approval reached as high as 90%. Only two programs, the purchase of new school buses and the renovation of parking lots, failed to gain more than 50% approval.
After respondents were given more information about repairing and replacing classrooms, approval grew from 69% to 71%. When the question was rephrased to include updating and renovating the campuses, approval grew from 69% to 82%.
When the cost of the bond measure was brought up, approval dropped somewhat. Approximately 65% were comfortable with an additional $50 per $100,000 of assessed value added to their property tax bill. When that figure was raised to $60, approval dropped to under 50%.
Scott said the numbers indicated a high probability that the proposed bond measure would pass, based on the residents’ positive feelings about the district and its schools.
“I don’t know exactly what you’re doing here,” he said, “but you’re doing something very right. People seem extremely pleased with the district and its opportunities.”
The trustees will be considering action on the bond in June in order to have the measure ready to file by the Aug. 9 deadline and in time for the Nov. 5 election. Should the measure pass, bond sales would begin in early 2025.
Some of the first steps in the transition and rebuilding of the San Juan School campus were approved, including a $3,000 engineering advance to PG&E, approval for furniture, painting and flooring for the school’s F Cluster, which will not be demolished as part of the project.
The trustees also approved a new partnership with Hartnell College, which will allow qualified Anzar High School students to travel to the Salinas campus twice a week to attend college classes for credit, joining the successful Hawks Academy program being taught in conjunction with Gavilan College.
San Juan School principal Ethan Stocks gave a presentation on his school’s dual instruction program, saying that he was suspending the classes for at least the next year because there were not enough qualified instructors and the program, in its current state, was “not having a positive impact on student achievement.” He said the absence of the program will not change the school’s dedication to its bilingual students.
“We have some changes that we need to make in order to provide better-personalized instruction for English learners,” he said. “We will continue to brainstorm other possible additions and changes as we look forward to the future of our program.”
The meeting began with the recognition of Anzar Principal Angela Crawley being named Association of California School Administrators Secondary Administrator of the Year for Region 10, as well as honoring retirees and the district employees of the year:
Retirees
- Lourdes Eberhardt, Aromas School
- Joseph Weldon, San Juan School
- Laura Flores-Vallejo, San Juan School
- Coleen Stone, San Juan School
Employees of the Year
- Aromas School: Sierra Taylor, Nowassa Cupples
- San Juan School: Cristal Avila, Lindsey Yorke
- Anzar High School: Elizabeth Samuels, Elizabeth Loredo
- District Office: Sandra Simmons
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