School District Slashes

The South Bay Union School District held a special board meeting on Thursday, February 19, in Burress Auditorium, adjacent to the district’s offices.

The district is facing a potential budget shortfall of $5,690,000 for the 2009-‘10 school year.

Board president Elvia Aguilar, vice-president Althea Jones, clerk Chris Brown, and members Nick Inzunza and David Lopez approved the restructuring of Nestor School to a language academy magnet school. The school will no longer have an assistant principal and some office and custodial staff will be eliminated. (Affected positions will be announced at the next regular meeting on February 26.)

The restructuring of West View School as an all-day kindergarten and preschool site doesn’t sit well with everyone, and Jones commented on a West View teacher’s request to wait a year before making the decision.

“It’s not easy to make this decision but, looking at the budget, we are doing something healthy for the district. It is what’s best for the district and all the kids.”

It’s projected that the restructuring of Nestor School will result in an employment-expense savings of $200,000. It’s expected that the restructuring of West View School will save $300,000 in labor costs.

Also approved at the meeting was the new school calendar for 2009-’10. The first day of school will be August 17th; the last day on June 24. The calendar is nearly a month longer than this year’s: September 8, 2008 to June 17, 2009. The Sweetwater Union School District initiated the changes to try and get all San Diego County schools to begin, take breaks, and end together.