Hello Rolando Park,
We have learned that tomorrow, June 2nd, the Board of Education (BOE) will have another budget meeting. The remaining school closures will be part of that discussion, including Rolando Park Elementary! They have already agreed to close North Park as of the May 26th meeting.
The Superintendent has had many various suggestion as to what our campus should be. The last proposal (and it does change frequently, if not hourly) is to close it for 3 years and reconfigure it as a "performing arts middle school." This is better than the suggestion of a high school, which nobody seems to favor. The current proposal looks like half our students would go to Carver and the other half to Clay, splitting our neighborhood children in two. Also, all the non-resident students would have to go back to their neighborhoods despite choosing ours.
We told Shelia Jackson, our representative and School Board President, that we wanted to upgrade the elementary and add a middle school to the campus. This would give us a K-8 school and time for the BOE to fix Crawford HS, which was agreed to be one of the largest problems for Rolando Park Elementary's enrollment decreases, as well as the constant threat of closure. If they want us to send our students, they need to do what we need!
We ask that you support our neighborhood and email or write each School Board Member & the Superintendent and/or attend the school board meeting. The meetings is at 4100 Normal Street in the auditorium, which is at the west end of El Cajon Blvd. & Washington. It starts at 8:30 AM, so get there a little early for parking. Details are on their website: http://www.sandi.net/indices/board.htm. Please ignore the canceled meeting notice, as it was for another meeting that this one replaced.
If you wish to contact the BOE Members & the Superintendent, their individual emails are:
Dr. Terry Grier superintendent@sandi.net - Superintendent
Shelia Jackson sjackson@sandi.net - BOE President & our school area representative
Richard Barrera rbarrera1@sandi.net - BOE Vice President
John de Beck jdebeck1@san.rr.com - BOE Member
John Lee Evans johnleeevans@sandi.net - BOE Member
Katherine Nakamura board@sandi.net - BOE Member
Points to mention if you wish to add with your own:
- If we are $46 Million short, why disrupt & close 7 neighborhood schools for a savings of only $3 Million?
- Why are they closing Rolando Park Elementary, instead of Carver Elementary, as the Small School Committee suggested?
- Have they looked into the Federal Magnet Program adopting Carver's Arabic Language program?
- We love our elementary school and would like to add a middle school.
- Will they take advantage of the wildlife in the canyon with a program at the Rolando Park campus?
- What about a Science magnet with Chemistry, Biology, Medical Arts, etc., supported by major local industry & feed into Crawford's programs?
- We have many choices to take our students to local charters or the nearby Vista La Mesa or Rolando elementary schools if they insist on this current removal of Rolando Park Elementary.
- What do we do with our students since the enrollment period has ended already?
- Do not ever ask us again to build other schools or have other bonds until we have a neighborhood school - Props MM & S!
PLEASE add your personal stories about your life experiences and/or the generations of your family that have gone to Rolando Park Elementary.
Thank you!
Lee Rittiner
Vice President RPCC & EACPC
619.850.2884
Rolando Park has had 3 vehicles stolen in the past 2 weeks: One on Livingston, one on Bing Street and one on Zena Drive. There have also been numerous vehicle break-ins! Bernie Piceno, our new San Diego Police Dept. Community Relations Officer, is urging everyone to keep their vehicles locked, well-lighted at night, with the alarms on if you have them! You are also urged NOT to leave any valuables out in your vehicles - take 'em into the house! Let's all keep our eyes and ears open, and if you hear or see anything suspicious, especially late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, call the S.D.P.D. at (619) 531-2000, and if you see a suspicious vehicle, try to report the license plate number. Of course, if you witness a theft or break-in IN PROGRESS, CALL 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY!
