Be the first to know: SUBSCRIBE HERE
↑ To add this ANIMATOR CLICK HERE
Greater Orange HEADLINES in the News
Follow Greater Orange on TWITTER
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Peralta Apartment vote on Thursday
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
Independent
insight into OUSD
a news service of
Orange
Net News
/O/N/N/
As OUSD's waiver from open space requirements set to
end on Nov 10th ...
Peralta Site Vote on this week's Oct
24 Board Meeting Agenda
as a Community Bond group seeks a
rushed "package deal"
The
Orange Unified School District's October 24th Board Meeting Agenda includes
Action Item 12 B, a vote on the future of the Peralta School Site just as the
deadline for the OUSD waiver from California Department of Education surplus
property rules is about to end. Those
rules mandate surplus school property first go to parks or recreation.
Agenda
Item 12 B (Agenda page 5) presents three
voting scenarios to the OUSD Board. The first option listed is to approve the
Ground Lease Option Agreement with Fairfield Residential LLC and direct the
OUSD Staff to "do any and all things
to complete the transaction".
The
second option listed is to disapprove the Ground Lease Option Agreement and to
direct staff "not to move forward
with Fairfield
The
third option states to direct staff "to
bring back the item for consideration and potential action at a future
date."
To
complicate the process, November 10, 2013
is when the waiver OUSD received from the California Department of Education to
dispose of the Peralta Site through a
Request for Proposal (RFP) process ends. It is that waiver that allows Fairfield
That
waiver received in 2011 was to free OUSD from the California Education Codes that preserves surplus school property
as open space. Without the waiver, the California Education Code dictates that
surplus school property's priority goes to being parks or recreation. The CDE waiver
allowed OUSD to not complying with the California
OUSD
received the waiver in November 2011. The waiver from the CDE requirements for
surplus property was received 7 months before the Peralta Neighborhood began
organizing against the site becoming high density apartments. Ironically, many of the Peralta high density apartment opponents
across the city have opposed the project on the grounds that the current open
space would be lost.
With
the November 10, 2013 deadline, the second Agenda option appears to essentially
kill the deal, while the third option appears to direct the staff to renew or
apply for a new waiver from the recreation and other requirements of the CDE
surplus property regulations.
This
week's Agenda includes the entire Ground Lease Option Agreement on pages 7-97
(for link CLICK ON
School Bonds, Parks
and Surplus Property
The
campaign against the Peralta Development has been spearheaded by the alliances
formed by the Save Peralta Property. The group quickly became a major player
not only in the Peralta neighborhood, but throughout the Greater Orange
Community. That success is in part due to the evident anti-development and pro-open
space political environment of the Central Orange County Metro area and in
particular the Greater Orange Communities-especially in the City of Orange.
With
the stated purpose of the Peralta development by OUSD Board supporters to "leverage" money for school
improvements, those same Board members have repeated the story that if the OUSD
Board has undeveloped properties, the community will not support the goal of
passing a Bond. In the last two failed OUSD Bond elections the issue of vacant
OUSD properties was never an issue. Never.
The
fact is that the issue of vacant OUSD properties has only been an issue in one
OUSD election.
In
the OUSD Recall of 2001, the OUSD Barham Ranch Property was an issue because
many supporters of the winning Citizen's Board Slate that were elected by the success
of the 2001 Recall were open space
advocates. With Sun Cal developers wanting the Barham Ranch land, the open
space advocates wanted OUSD to sell the 500
acre property to the County
of Orange
Within
a year of the 2001 Recall victory the Barham Ranch land was sold to the County of Orange
That
was the only election OUSD property has been an issue-and in that election the
issue again was development vs. open space. Never has OUSD surplus land played
an issue in an election. That however, appears to be changing. The current Board
is totally misreading the community on the surplus property, similar to how Washington
The
linkage of Peralta and an OUSD 2014 Bond is entirely the fabrication of the
current Board majority. Now a local business group supporting a Bond has
approached the Save Peralta Property group wanting again to couple the two
issues. The business group is insisting that all surplus property be sold to
make way for a bond. The Save Peralta
Group is insisting that the two issues be kept separate. However, if in fact the properties are sold,
the California Education Code requires that open space and recreational
concerns be top priorities- UNLESS there is a waiver from those requirements as
was the case with the Peralta Property.
For
more information on the Save Peralta Property position on the
"linking" of the Peralta Property and a 2014 OUSD School Bond CLICK
ON: PERALTA
Thursday's
agenda also includes Agenda Item 12 C -declaring the Riverdale School
Unlike
pervious Bond attempts, the movement towards the next OUSD Bond has been open
and transparent. This week's Agenda also includes items 12 D- an update of the
facilities planning and needs of OUSD's high schools. The improvements in the
High School Facilities Master Plan are to be paid for by a school Bond. With
four different firms -one for each high school, the goal of the OUSD
Administration in the master plan is for "equity
and parity" across the district's high school communities. This item's
written goal is to present for the OUSD Trustees approval "educational specifications to provide direction and establish
expectations across the district". The presentation will include architectural
renditions.
Along
with the open process seeking a Bond measure, the Agenda includes Item 13 A- an
open informational item that includes information on a 2014 School Bond. The
information includes: Feasibility Assessment; Ballot measure development; and
an advocacy campaign. Agenda item 13 B takes advocacy a step further with OUSD Trustee
Rick Ledesma advocating OUSD hiring the services of a "Public Information or
Firm" to help with information on the High School Facilities Master Plan.
OUSD Closed Session will discuss Taft lawsuit
Information
on a lawsuit filed in May of last year against Orange Unified, the Principal of
Taft Elementary School and a former Taft Special Education teacher will be
heard in Closed Session at the OUSD October 24th meeting.
Closed
Session Agenda Item 4 is a discussion with OUSD lawyers on the case Cesar P, et al vs Orange Unified. The
case stems from the April 2012 incident that was widely reported involving
former Taft Elementary School
Lentini,
Taft Principal Antoniette Coe and 100 "does" are listed with Orange
Unified as defendants in the case that the case's General Allegations list as "caused detriment, damage and injury to
Plaintiffs". The case lists
numerous minor plaintiffs and their guardians.
The
lawsuit lays out 5 Causes of Action: 1. Violation of the 1959 Unruh Civil
Rights Act ; 2. Violation of US Civil Rights under the 8th and 14th
Amendments; 3 Breach of Duty of Care
Arising Under Special Relationship; 4,
Negligence; and 5; Discrimination on Basis of Disability (Sec 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973).
The
lawsuit asks from all the defendants general damages, special damages and
treble damages. It also seeks punitive damages from Daniel Lentini, as well as all
legal fees and "For such other and
further damages as provided by law, or such relief as the court may deem just
and proper".
For back story CLICK ON: OC REGISTER
INSIDE the OUSD Board Agenda
The following are noteworthy
highlights of the OUSD Agenda. For the complete agenda see the link below.
Closed
Session
- 4 C- Discussion of
Evaluation Instruments and Goals for the evaluation of the Superintendent-
another item on the Superintendent's evaluation
Action
Items
- 12
A Automatic Electronic Defibrillators
- 12 F Common
Core State Standards state funding options
NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING October
24, 2013
Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
CLOSED SESSION- 5:30 pm
OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm
For AGENDA-CLICK ON
For more information call the OUSD
Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business Services at
714-628-4015
ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found
at:
the Greater Orange News Service
http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
ORANGE
Unified Schools INSIDE
and the
Greater Orange News Service
are independent news services of /O/N/N/
Orange
Net News
“Greater Orange
