Summary of the meeting with Gina Daleiden:
We met with school board member Gina Daleiden on 03/30 and these are some of the points that were discussed:
- Proposal H (from Emerson Teachers and Principal?) does not seem to be a viable option now (may be in the future), due to the fact that many Da Vinci students need to take additional classes at the DHS. Distance between Harper and DHS is a problem. Also Harper does not meet the standards now to be a second high school (it can be remodeled up to high school standards, but will cost a lot of money right now and presumably take too much time).
- Proposal G is being modified (not on the online documents yet) to either have the DVHS students at Emerson or at Valley Oak (without closing Emerson).
- The savings presented on proposal G are being revised since it does not include saving on custodians, consolidation of principals, etc. The school board will present a new revised economic analysis at the meeting on 03/31.
- If DVHS moves to Valley Oak, consolidation of principals (Patwin and Emerson) is a possibility.
- Vice-principal work at the junior highs (if only 7th and 8th) can be performed by counselors and/or teachers allowing more savings.
- DSIS can be moved to either DVHS site or Emerson (saving 0.5 principal cost).
- If Emerson stays open, we may need to choose between staying open and not being able to offer advanced classes (algebra, language, choir, band, etc.) due to low enrollment. Shifting of the school boundaries was brought up as an option in order to bring more students to Emerson. Another option is to bring more languages (Mandarin, German, Spanish, etc.) or special programs to Emerson (band, choir, drama, etc.), to bring more students from the other sites in town.
- A thorough demographic analysis, including density of children of different ages around town, will be reported shortly and will be part of the considerations.
- If 9th grade goes to the high schools, a WEB-style program (LINK at the high school) will be in place to help integrate them into the high school. They would also want to make sure that every student has a locker.
- If 9th grade goes to the high school, they may close the campus to 9th, and maybe 10th, graders (it's only open at lunchtime now, except for students who have an educational reason for coming or going , such as DSIS student coming for a couple of classes, or students who don't take 7 periods and therefore have a late start -- apparently, security knows all the kids who have business coming and going outside of lunch period, and other high schools have found this approach successful).
- Can't drop junior high 7th period now as another approach to saving money because of Measure Q. Changing that would require another vote in another election.
- Future construction of the University's West Village does not mean there will be a big increase in Emerson-district junior high students. The expectation is that that development will add only about 200 kids of all ages to the district.
-Selling DJUSD buildings would only support the facilities fund. However, leasing them would support the general fund that can be used for teacher salaries. There probably isn't enough time to work all that out before next fall, however.
- Safety issues and remodeling of Emerson will be discussed tomorrow (03/31) at the meeting.
- It appears that the meeting on 03/31 is just to hear community concerns, but it is unlikely that a decision would be made. The meeting on 04/03 most likely include some decision-making (9th through 12th consolidation, DVHS move).
Gustavo Soberano and Moreen Libet
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