Merger of high school districts a possibility

by Lacey Rees of the Sierra Star

 

— Sierra Star/Lacey Rees

Some of the trustees of both Yosemite and Minarets school boards discuss concerns connected with the planned merger of the two districts.  Yosemite Superintendent Bill McCabe talks with Yosemite trustees Karen Hutchings and board president Tom Allcock, and Minarets board president Rob Russell and trustee Margaret Curtiss.

 

Unanimously, the boards of trustees of both Yosemite and Minarets high school districts voted Tuesday to gave the OK to their respective superintendents to develop a proposal for merging the two school districts.

The formal agreement will be presented to the two boards at a meeting at the end of January 2002.

This is the first step in what the two superintendents see will result in a new district being formed in three years. Bill Mc­Cabe, superintendent of Yose­mite Joint Union High School District, made a presentation to the board and the 15 or so people in the audience on how cooperation could benefit both schools.

“I see this as a real step in the fate of smaller districts,” said Mr. McCabe. With the state taking budget cuts, he sees the schools getting less and less of state funds. [“Educators wondering how to make ends meet as state tightens funding,” Sierra Star, December 5.]

Mr. McCabe, who is also the superintendent of Coarsegold Elementary School District, showed the boards how the two districts combined could receive $8 million more in three years than the two would earn separately. He said he took Big Creek and Pine Ridge out of the numbers. [Big Creek and Pine Ridge, now in Minarets School District, most likely will become a part of Sierra Unified School District which is in Fresno County.]

 

Interdistrict transfers

The proposed merger would not change where the students go to school or where employees work,” he stressed. “The change is on paper.” By next year, most of the Yosemite students would be Minarets students through interdistrict transfers. Min­arets enjoys a higher revenue limit from the state than Yosemite does. The money would be used to service the students.

What is required toward a proposal, said Mr. McCabe, is a board approval to move forward, staff participation, community understanding an acceptance and a solid agreement. He also said there would be separate clauses in case things did not work out.

There is the potential to increase school revenues about $700,000 per year, Mr. McCabe added. He sees the “lower corridor” [area around Yosemite Lakes Park and south] increasing in population and necessitating the need for another high school.

“It really is the intention to create a positive situation for students and employees,” said Phil Pendley, superintendent of both Minarets Joint Union High School District and Chawanakee Elementary School District.

At the same time, talks are tak­ing place to also merge Coarse­gold and Chawanakee elementary school districts.

One in the audience was concerned about busing. Mr. McCabe admitted it hadn’t yet been discussed. Dr. Pendley said he assumes that kids will go to the high school that is geographically closer to them.

 

Who has authority?

Tom Allcock, a Yosemite trustee, was more concerned with how the school board would work if it had no employees, and “how do we enact policy upon kids who are not ours?”

Dr. Pendley wanted a chance to bring that solution back to the board later in written form.

Eventually there will be a common superintendent and a joint board. “It will be a challenge that citizens in the Yose­mite High School District [feel they] have not given away authority,” offered Rob Russell, president of the Minarets board.

“That will be our No. 1 challenge,” said Dr. Pendley. “We will create a governance system that puts that board on [the Yosemite] site. There is no intention of Minarets usurping the [Yosemite District].

It was suggested that certificated and classified employees would eventually make new contract agreements, but there would be language developed whereby “the [current] contracts would stay in place until the final merger,” said Mr. Allcock.

 

Into a huddle

Each district board then huddled with its own for about 15 minutes, then broke and formed groups mixed with members of both boards, to discuss the concerns each had, as well as writing each concern on a piece of paper.

The two superintendents then organized the papers in order of subject to read to the audience.

Marilyn Dunn, a resident of O’Neals in the Minarets Dis­trict, read a prepared comment to the boards. “I like the idea of some kind of joint district,” she said. “But this district is still subject to lapsation” [for not having a facility within the allotted time after the district was organized], and the issue is still on the state Board of Education agenda. [Min­arets High clears one hurdle, hits another,” Sierra Star,  No­vem­ber 21.]

Fresno [County Office of Education] wants money from Minarets [that it thinks it is owed], and she fears there will be litigation. “Will that litigation involve Yosemite also? she asked. “What would be the sanctions from the state level because this follows on the heels of the reorganization in Fresno District?”

The board members made no comments on Ms. Dunn’s re­marks but proceeded with the meeting. 

Mr. McCabe read the comments from the trustees and audience, stressing that these will be treated in the proposals made to the boards in January.

Employees were concerned about salaries, status, raises and protections. One wanted to know who would be in charge of the new high school. Another wanted to make sure the community was given accurate information about the changes.

Some were concerned about finances — the division of costs between Fresno and Madera counties, while another wanted to see a good transportation program.

One wanted local governance at the YHS site; another wondered how the board would be structured, and one wanted an exit plan.

“We will develop a plan, addressing issues and getting staff input,” said Mr. McCabe. He characterizes the mergers as a “symbiotic relationship where we would both feed off of each other’s successes.”

 

Merger talks not new

Mr. McCabe said he and Dr. Pendley have been talking about such a merger for the past two years. “The time is right for this to take hold,” said Mr. McCabe. It will give us revenue when the state budget is reducing.

“The breakup is going to occur,” said Dr. Pendley speaking of the loss of Pine Ridge and Big Bear. “We want to have Eastern Madera County in the best situation we can.”

“This area is going to continue to grow,” offered Mr. Mc­Cabe, what with the coming casino in Coarsegold and plans to make Highway 41 safer, especially in the rocky-cut area. We can’t wait until the growth is here to act, he indicated.

“The big picture is what counts — [building] a better educational environment. “We wish Fresno County well with everything they want to do,” the two superintendents agreed.

In related information, earlier last month, the Min­arets board of trustees had asked the superintendent to bring information about a bond election to the board meeting on Thursday [December 6]. “There are tons and tons of issues” connected with whether a bond election would be carried out, admitted Dr. Pendley.