The City Schools Committee voted unanimously in August to recommend that the Emery School Board place a bond measure on the November 2010 ballot to help fund this facility. The information that I have received over the past several months was compelling to me, and I see the realization of this facility as an important step for our community: it will create a school, a library, a recreation center and a place where community services can be housed. I believe that public participation in every step of this facility plan is essential. Dissenters are welcome in my opinion to help strengthen this ambitious and sorely needed improvement to our schools and city services.
I was lucky to go on a tour of several facilities to see firsthand the places where our students learn and play. Anna Yates (K-6, 425 students) had improvements done a year and a half ago, but structurally speaking the school needs more. It is cheerful and adequate for now.
The Emery Secondary School (7-12 grades, 340 students) is a place where I substitute taught this past year. The school was built in the 1950s and 60s. The technology that we enjoy today is not supported by the infrastructure: you can see wires draped around to try and make do with what is there. The science labs are not functional. Classrooms are too small for today’s class sizes, limiting the possibilities of different configurations.
The City of Emeryville’s Rec Center has been housed in portables on San Pablo Ave. at 43rd St. Children spend time here before and after school, and there are many classes and camps offered. There is no recreation facility here to speak of, it consists of classrooms.
The next stop on our tour was a newly built high school in the West Contra Costa County School District called El Cerrito High School. This school gave us an idea of what might be possible.
NEWS FLASH: Tours to see firsthand what I was able to see are being offered October 18 and 19. Please contact Sherron Conway by Thursday, October 7th, at sherronconway@emeryusd.k12.ca.us or by phone at (510) 601-4909.
The main idea behind co-locating all students K-12 and the Rec Center along with a community library at one Center is that we gain efficiency of scale by doing so. Small, urban districts like ours are rare. It is more common to see something like this in rural settings, or in the model of an International School. Emery Unified is projected to grow because our town has grown and still is (the new General Plan includes a 60% increase of residents over the next 20 years), and also because as the schools improve (and they have steadily improved) more residents will choose to send their children there. More residents will stay in Emeryville as they have children. So far, the enrollment numbers at Anna Yates have outpaced the demographers’ projections. An additional Kindergarten class was added for this school year. Getting to a sustainable number of students (minimum 1200 combined) is important for the long term health of the district.
As a progressive educator myself (I taught in the public schools from 1995 until 2010), I applaud the innovation of “full-service” schools; schools where services go beyond the traditional classroom, but look instead at meeting the needs of the population they serve, from wellness services to job training, counseling and adult education. Emery Unified is doing this already, and the new Center would provide the space to continue and enhance these services.
The library is another need for our area. My family and I go to Golden Gate Library, an Oakland Public Library. According to the OPL itself, this geographical area is underserved and needs either an expansion or additional library. A great school needs a library as well, and by combining the library needs of both schools and the public, we can again create the efficiencies of scale to serve all users much better.
This whole plan needs creativity and innovation to provide traditional services and beyond with less, with collaboration between the School District and the City of Emeryville. We have consultants who know these models well, who look at using physical space with barriers that keep all safe, and reduce conflicts, but built with flexibility so we can economize and use the space as wisely as possible.
November’s ballot has a bond measure called Measure J, placed by the Emery Unified School District, asking the residents of Emeryville if they will support this project by voting for a $95 million school facilities plan. For each property owner in town, that will translate to $60 per $100,000 assessed value of property. So a $300,000 condo owner will pay $180 per year. Assessed values have come down recently. The Emeryville Redevelopment Agency has previously committed $25 million from its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget to support this project. Some of that money is helping to fund the continued plans and support. The entire project is supposed to cost $112 million, and would be built on the current ESS site. Economically difficult times like ours now are a good time to move forward on a project like this because construction costs are low and we are hopeful for matching funds from federal sources (think stimulus) as this is a job creation project.
I still have some reservations about the project and the process going forward. One is about governance of the project, as it is a joint-use facility, and the collaboration of the City and School District is essential to success. Nancy Skinner, our Assemblymember in Sacramento carried a bill last year that was passed and signed by the Governor allowing these 2 public entities to move forward on this joint use facility. Much of this still needs to be worked out.
The second issue is trust. Trust in our elected officials and leaders on this project to allow all concerned residents and property owners to be involved.
Third is the amount of public participation. Built into the language of the bond measure are the Core Values of Public Participation from the International Association for Public Participation. All elected officials have endorsed this list, and now it is up to you, the citizens, to get involved and stay involved as decisions are made. It starts with voting on November 2, 2010.
My fourth concern is the sheer cost of an ambitious project like this one. But I am getting used to this one as I understand better what it would cost to build a new Emery Secondary School, a new Rec Center and a new library.
Fifth, is seeing the interest and involvement of the school community: the teachers, the parents, the families at ECDC, and the staff.
I believe that all information on this bond measure needs to be easily accessed, easily understood, and the opportunity for input made clear.
We need your input during this process! During this next month, we need to make sure Emeryville residents are informed and get their questions answered and concerns addressed. If you have an HOA in your community that could host a Q & A session with folks from the School Board, please write back to me to set something up. I see critiques as opportunities to make things better. We need to make sure this plan is done well, as this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the city and the school district. I support Measure J on the November ballot, and I hope you will too.
