7-11 Committee Deliberations Near Completion

The 7-11 Citizens’ Advisory Committee is nearing the completion of its deliberations.

You may recall that the School Board expressed a desire to maximize the benefits of the Measure J funds entrusted to us by the taxpayers to improve our schools.  With reduced enrollment in the future of the District, that means looking at all options before finalizing a plan on how to spend the money.

According to a recent enrollment study, the OUSD can soon expect to be about half the size it was during its peak enrollment, or about 2400-2500 students.  We have facilities for our former enrollment of over 4000 students.  What, if anything, should we do with excess property?

Prioritizing spending is an important step.  Spend the limited improvement money on all properties equally, even properties we may not need in the future?  Spend money only on the facilities definitely needed for the future?  How will any choice effect students and families?

A 7-11 Advisory Committee is one step in the Board’s information gathering.  Created back in September (see my earlier post about seeking volunteers) and comprised of volunteers from the community, it is a body formed by law to make recommendations to the School Board regarding options for surplus school property.  In this case, the Committee is reviewing elementary schools.

The Committee is scheduling it’s own public hearing on March 17th at the Chaparral Auditorium to present to the community what its likely recommendations to the Board will be, and to listen to public reaction.  It’s a very important meeting.

Despite any information to the contrary, as of this date the Committee has not completed its deliberations, and nothing has been presented to the School Board.  When their recommendations are complete, the Committee will present them to the Board in a public meeting.  I invite and strongly urge concerned Valley residents to attend the meeting or watch it on the internet.

You can find everything related to the Committee including agenda, minutes, documents reviewed, and videos of its meetings at OUSD 7-11 Citizens Advisory Committee.