News

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Update: Santa Barbara School Districts Real Property District Advisory Committee

Excerpt from the June 30, 2009 memo from the committee to the board of education

The Santa Barbara School Districts’ Real Property District Advisory Committee has been meeting regularly since it was established in October 2008 by the board of education. The committee was formed to advise the board of education about the use of excess school facilities and property. Following are the committee’s preliminary recommendations:

PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on information that is available at this time, the Committee has reach consensus on the following (not in priority order):

1. Increase revenues – The Committee wants to help the District find a way to increase revenues, especially into the General Fund.
2. Wholesale move of District office to SBJHS not appropriate – The Committee believes that moving the entire District office to SBJHS places too much of a burden on that one program.
3. Limit use to east wing of SBJHS - If the District office were to move to SBJHS, limit the District’s use to the east wing near Cota St. A minimum of 3 classrooms are needed in the east wing (where the District office used to be located) to avoid having travelling teachers and impacts to the JHS program.
4. Put autonomous District uses at other sites - If the District were to move to SBJHS, the functions that can be autonomous should be located at other sites if practical. The same applies to District programs now at the JHS that could be located at another school. The uses should be coordinated so that those functions that are District-wide should be located where they are most readily available to the most people.
5. SBJHS priority use of Globe - If the District were to move to SBJHS, the JHS should have priority for use of the Globe for meetings, theater practices, etc.
6. Board and other meeting room space – TheCommittee was concerned about the cost, convenience and feasibility of using the Globe for Board meetings, especially when large numbers of people are expected. The Marjorie Luke Theatre is an option but there are costs associated with its use. The lack of other meeting space for District use was also a concern as meeting space at the current office is at a premium (the Committee usually met at La Cuesta as no other rooms were available).
7. Return leased portables - Leased portables should be returned to save the District money on leases. First priority for use of newly available classrooms should be relocated uses from existing leased portables.
8. Keep classrooms for that use if possible - Wherever possible, existing classroom space should be used as classrooms or at least not converted to another use as they may be needed as classrooms at some point in the future.
9. Retain Parma Children’s Center on East Montecito Street - Parma School should remain in its current location and not be moved in order to rent the site to another use.

NEXT STEPS

The District Advisory Committee has learned a lot in our five meetings and has reached consensus on several matters relating to our goals as established by the Board.  Before presenting our final recommendations, we need more information that will be forthcoming in the next few months.  Once the 2009-10 school year has begun and enrollment estimates, budget and other relevant information is available, we will meet once more to finalize our recommendations that we will present to the Board in fall 2009.