Tulare County - A series of storms that deposited less water in the Valley than expected, did come through with plenty of snowfall, and while no one is saying the three-year dry spell is over, things are certainly looking up.
Rainfall for the week in Visalia amounted to less than 2.5 inches, but the series of six storms left more than five feet of new snow at Farewell Gap at the 9,500-foot elevation above Visalia and nearly four feet of snow at Quaking Aspen at 7,200 feet above Porterville.
When the storms began,
there was less than three feet of snow on the ground at
both locations, but according to state Department of Water
Resources sensors on Tuesday, there were 7.5 feet at Farewell
Gap and 6.5 feet at Quaking Aspen.
Vic Hernandez, river operations supervisor, Kaweah Delta
Water Conservation District, said this year is certainly
looking better than the past few years, but it is still
too early to tell if the dry-spell is at an end.
“We're not out of the drought. We really need a big year to rebound,” he said, adding that at Terminus Dam slightly less than 3 inches of rain fell last week – far less than the 8 inches that had been predicted.
Still, so far for the month there has been 3.64 inches of rainfall, nearly an inch above average. “December and January have both been above average,” he said of indications things are looking up.
At Farewell Gap, water content – the really significant measurement – was 21.8 inches as of Tuesday. That is 118 percent of average and already 63 percent of the April 1 average.
Unfortunately, a dry
pattern appears to be returning to the state. Gary Sanger,
meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford,
said right now only a week storm is expected Saturday and
nothing on the immediate horizon after that.
Last week's storms did not pose any problems at the lake
or at McKay Point where the district is constructing a diversion
structure.
“We handled it just fine,” he said.
Sanger said last week's storms were unusual. “We only see that once a decade,” he said of the line-up of storms.
A key point right now is that water is being released into canals and rivers. Some of that is being used for irrigation, but that flow down canals and channels also helps to recharge the underground water supply on the Valley floor.
Because of the construction project, water can only be diverted down the St. Johns River, but the Tulare Irrigation District is taking a lot of water for its channels. Those releases will continue until Monday or Tuesday when they will start to slowly fill the lake, depending on the weather.
While the storms did bring plenty of rain to the state, meteorologists and state water managers agreed it is too early to say the drought has ended. The rough consensus among water experts last week was that the wet week has been vitally important to improving the state's water outlook. However, they projected that Northern California needs two more weeks like the past week by April for rain and snow levels to return to historic averages.
“We need February and March to be wetter than January to really end the drought,” said Jan Null, a former National Weather Service meteorologist who runs Golden Gate Weather Services in Saratoga.
On Tuesday, the statewide snowpack was at 119 percent of average, up from 79 percent before the storms hit.
On average, six feet of snow have accumulated on the Sierra in the past week. To be at historic average depths on April 1, an additional 13 feet must pile up in the next two months, said Dave Rizzardo, chief of the snow survey and water forecast branch of the California Department of Water Resources in Sacramento. “If you look at the snow and rain, we are now back on pace to where we should be for an average year,” Rizzardo said. “This helps stop the bleeding. But we need a couple more weeks like this one.”
High Speed Rail Facility
By Miles Shuper
Allensworth - Aproposal to locate a large High Speed Rail maintenance facility in the historic Allensworth community has been developed, but there is a question if it will be considered by the High Speed Rail Authority.
The Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) endorsed a proposal drafted by William Lee, a consultant who is working on an ambitious plan to develop the site of the African-American town founded by Col. Allen Allensworth in the early 1900s into a city.
Lee, who has an $80,000
consulting contract with TCAG, said selection of Allensworth
as the site for a major maintenance facility could create
up to 1,500 jobs and possibly hundreds more as other development
of the area continues.
Lee said the labor force would come almost totally from
Tulare County.
Lee said his proposal was submitted to the HSR authority by the Jan. 15 deadline. But Tuesday afternoon, HSR officials said it had not been received, according to Jason Waters of the TCAG staff.
Proposals had been received from Kern, Fresno, Madera and Merced counties. A decision could come within several months, Lee said. Fresno is considered a frontrunner for the site.
Lee's presentation to TCAG includes a proposed 5-megawatt solar farm which would not only power the massive maintenance facility but generate enough power to supply the energy grid and allow development of a job center and other potential facilities in the area.
The chances of Tulare County getting a passenger high speed rail station are, for all practical purposes, nil, but landing a heavy maintenance stop would be an economic boom, especially in the southwestern corner of the county.
Lee estimated construction of the rail facility likely would be in the $60 million to $70 million range. Work could begin within two years.
Lee said the site of the proposed yard covers approximately 150 acres.
The favored HSP route, which basically parallels Highway 43, is adjacent to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight line. About the only time that line ventures into Tulare County is in the Allensworth-Alpaugh area.
Kings County has also submitted a bid to have the large maintenance facility. The HSRA has also indicated that Hanford could be the site of the only passenger stop between Fresno and Bakersfield.
Carbon Footprint
By Steve Pastis
Visalia - Kawneer Company, Inc. of Visalia has a new program to help its employees and others in Tulare County become part of the solution to global climate change – and reduce their energy bills.
The program, “Make an Impact,” is a joint effort by Kawneer, its parent company, Alcoa, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The effort was launched at a workshop last week where employees and members of the community learned ways to live more sustainably and save money.
“If every household replaced five incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent, the net impact in carbon emissions would be the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road,” said Kawneer Southwest Regional Director Michael R. Stokes, providing an example of how people can get involved. “This is the sort of thing we teach our employees so we can all learn how we can save money by reducing energy costs, but also reduce CO2 in the environment.”
Stokes acknowledged that fluorescent bulbs typically cost seven times what incandescent bulbs cost, “But they'll last more than seven times longer. You will also save on your electrical bill by changing them out.”
Kawneer, the leading manufacturer of architectural aluminum building products and systems for commercial construction, is part of Alcoa's global Building and Construction Systems (BCS) business unit which manufactures and markets architectural systems and products around the world. Alcoa is the world's leading producer and manager of primary aluminum and alumina facilities.
Alcoa focuses most of the Make an Impact efforts on its employees, according to Stokes. “Alcoa values itself on how involved employees are,” he said, noting that Visalia is in the top 10 of Alcoa's 400 plants. “That really says a lot about the workers we have in this part of the country.”
Kawneer is not only providing information about efficient energy use, it is also setting an example. The Visalia plant has a 588,000-watt, roof-mounted pholtovoltaic solar-power system which uses energy from the sun to generate electricity. The system provides $100,000 in annual savings to the plant.
In addition, more than 200 solar light tubes were installed at the Visalia plant to provide day lighting and further reduce energy costs. The light tubes direct sunlight into the plant and magnify it.
Kawneer also has a state-of-the-art rotary concentrator which handles the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from its paint. These compounds are concentrated into fuel, efficiently destroying themselves.
The rotary concentrator cost $1.4 million, and Kawneer is the only company to have one in the western U.S., according to Stokes. The company expects annual savings of $330,000 over 20 years.
“The emission control device will reduce our emissions by 50 percent,” Stokes said. “It will reduce electrical usage, reducing the carbon needed to create the electricity we would have consumed.”
In addition to local workshops, the Make an Impact initiative includes an interactive Web site, www.kawneer.com/makeanimpact, which features tips, tools and resources on how to reduce energy bills and live more sustainably.
Ready for Construction
Porterville Fairgrounds Move Underway
By Rick Elkins
Porterville - Big things are in store for Porterville in 2010 and most revolve around the construction of a new courthouse.
Escrow closed in December on the 7.4-acre site where the Porterville Fairgrounds sits at 300 E. Olive Ave. and that closure set in motion the move of the fairgrounds and the eventual construction of the $90 million facility.
“It's a huge deal for Porterville,” said City Manager John Lollis, adding it's comparable to when Wal-Mart located its first California distribution center in the city in the early 1990s.
“It's a great thing to highlight,” he added.
The city received $2.14 million for the property it owned, but was leased by the Fairgrounds.
Lollis said funding for the construction has already been allocated. Plans are for the 90,000-square-foot, nine-courtroom facility to be completed in late 2012 or early 2013.
Construction will begin late this year or early next year, after the fairgrounds that is home to the community-supported fair every May, moves to its new location southwest of the Porterville Airport, another area where a lot is happening.
“We're kind of excited about what else could happen next to the (new) fairgrounds,” said Lollis, adding the city is in talks about developing a regional training facility – one that would be both public and private – near the airport and west of the new fairgrounds.
He said that facility could include a police academy, CHP academy or more and that the city is in talks with 11 partners on the project.
Courthouse
The courthouse, called the South County Justice Center, will be a full-service court, much like the courthouse in Visalia.
“Porterville will be a full-functioning court,” said Gerald Sevier, presiding judge of the court. He said it will handle criminal, misdemeanor, juvenile and family court cases and will have more than four judges to start, with room to grow to as many as nine judges. Tulare County has 19 judicial positions and of those three are in Porterville now and two in Tulare.
“The master plan is to have two court facilities. That suggests there will not be a courthouse in Tulare,” he said, adding that no final decision has been made on that. Tulare courthouse, which is owned by the state, could be utilized in some form, similar to the Dinuba facility that serves as a court for minor cases and is staffed by a court commissioner.
Sevier said the courthouse is needed and it will greatly reduce the overcrowded conditions at the Visalia facility. As many as 100 Visalia courthouse workers could end up being moved to the new Porterville Courthouse.
And, said Sevier, it
is long overdue to replace the outdated and overcrowded
courthouse in Porterville. “The Porterville Court
is one of the most deficient in the state,” he said,
adding it is a priority for the state to make improvements
there.
The new courthouse will include additional courtrooms for
proposed new judgeships as well as space for court administration,
court clerk, court security operations and holding, and
building support. The project will also include approximately
315 on-site surface parking spaces for staff and visitors.
Money for the project comes from the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, from court fees and fines, not the state's General Fund.
New Fairgrounds
The 2010 Porterville Fair will be the last at the site that has served it for more than 50 years.
However, said Porterville Fair Board President John Corkins, the 2011 Fair will not be the first event to be held at the new location. Plans are to hold the 2010 4-H Breakfast at the new site in October, the time the fair is to be out of the old site in downtown Porterville.
Corkins reports work has already begun at the site which is on Tea Pot Dome Road (Ave. 128) and Road 224.
He said, “We're building a facility with the vision of 150 years.”
The new fairgrounds
will sit on 15 acres, with another 10 acres of mutual space.
Corkins is excited about the move, a move that had been
talked about for more than 15 years. He said they are building
a $3.5 million indoor facility that can handle up to 1,000
people and will replace an old barn that they had to squeeze
exhibits into at the old site. The building will also include
the fair office and the board of directors' meeting room.
Also included in Phase 1 will be a large livestock pavilion, rabbit barns, the Rotary stage, parking and all the infrastructure.
There are also plans
for a Phase 2 in three years and eventually a Phase 3.
Corkins said the fairgrounds is used about 120 days a year
and the goal is to see it used at least 240 days a year.
He said the roping arena
that was part of the old fairgrounds will now be accommodated
in the open-air pavilion. That single-span barn, he said,
will be constructed to where they can easily expand it if
necessary. And, it will be twice as high as the old site's
barn – 40 feet high – so it can be used for
more things, he said.
“We'll be able to hold a lot more events,” he
said.
City Ballpark
The baseball field that served as the home for many youth baseball games will also be torn down. Lollis said the city is looking at several options on how to replace that.
He said the city received $600,000 in replacement funds to relocate the park and it is looking at options. One would be to partner where there are already ball fields to add more, or even develop a new baseball/softball complex, but he acknowledged that would cost a lot more than $600,000.
SECOND FRONT PAGE
What's New
Foreclosures continue decline. Despite talk of a second wave of foreclosures in the county, the number of foreclosure actions in both Tulare and Kings counties continues to decline. In Visalia, RealtyTrac reported that 329 foreclosure proceedings were begun in December, slightly higher than the 317 begun in November. However, for all of Tulare County, the number of proceedings dropped from 780 in November to 746 last month, with most of the reductions in the rural areas of the county. The total in Kings County was also down, from 238 to 213 last month. Hanford had 126 proceedings begun, 23 less than the previous month.
Change in school year for Visalia students? The Visalia Unified School District is considering changing its school year, starting the day after Labor Day and not ending until late June, but a phone survey of parents last week found little support for such a move. In a message on the district's web site, officials said there could be possible energy savings with a Sept. 7, 2010 to June 23, 2011 school year, rather than starting in mid-August and ending in early June as it will this school year. However, the survey found only 33 percent favored moving the start date – 67 percent said stay with the current scheduled. Even if the start date is pushed back, students and staff would still get a three-week winter break.
City of Porterville officials are working on constructing a regional fire training facility at its Fire Station 2 near Veterans Park in that city. City Manager John Lollis said plans include moving the Porterville College Fire Academy to that location which already has two classrooms and training apparatus.
Tulare County's representative in the state Assembly, Connie Conway (R-Tulare), was elected as the second-highest-ranking member of the Assembly's Republican Caucus. Conway made a bid to lead the caucus, but lost out to Assemblyman Martin Garrick. Conway will serve as caucus chairwoman.
Some Kettleman City residents are going to court to try to stop the expansion of a Waste Management Inc.'s hazardous-waste landfill that they suspect has caused birth defects. People for Clean Air and Water, a group of Kettleman City residents, and Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice filed suit last week claiming Kings County's environmental review of the project was flawed. They are seeking to have the permit for the expansion revoked.
Kaweah Delta Health Care District is now a Level III Trauma Center. The Tulare County Board of Supervisors approved the designation at its meeting on Tuesday. The new trauma status formalizes the hospital's emergency resuscitation, surgery and intensive care procedures, provides a review mechanism and ties the district in with the Emergency Medical Services Agency region which includes Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties.
The California Supreme Court has refused to grant the state building association's petition to review a case won by the Air District over a landmark regulation controlling development-related emissions. The court ruled that it will not review the case, won by the Air District in 2008 and upheld on appeal in 2009. The suit, brought by the California Building Industry Association, claimed the Air District had no authority to regulate development and impose fees through its enactment of Rule 9510 (Indirect Source Review). The rule, adopted in 2005, imposes fees for new development in the Valley in order to mitigate related emissions. The latest ruling is the last possible avenue of appeal for the state BIA.
Enrollment at College of the Sequoias was at 12,756 students on Jan. 21, an increase of 1,809 – or 17 percent – over the same time last year. Total units were up 14 percent to 119,340, and class enrollments were up 13 percent to 38,700.
The Ivanhoe Community Council, a volunteer organization, hosted a meeting Wednesday night to encourage communitywide participation in setting community priorities. Ivanhoe residents were asked to contribute to a plan of action “to successfully address and implement strategies that improve and build Ivanhoe's quality of life and increases sense of community.”
CIGNA HealthCare, which has a call center in Visalia, has been recognized for call center operation customer satisfaction excellence for a fourth consecutive year under the J.D. Power and Associates Call Center Certification Program. The Call Center Certification Program distinction acknowledges a strong commitment by CIGNA HealthCare's call center operation to provide “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience.”
New Hotel Gets Planners’ OK
Visalia - Visalia's newest hotel, a 125-bed Residence Inn by Marriott, will break ground in March with an opening planned for Spring of 2011, said Heidi de Guzman with MSW Architectural & Engineering Services, Inc., the architectural firm for the project.
The new hotel at West Cypress Avenue, across the street from the Visalia Adventure Park, won approval of the Visalia Planning Commission Monday night.
The four-story hotel will be situated on 2.68 acres of the Village West Commercial Shopping Center development first approved by the city several years ago. Besides the Adventure Park, there is another hotel, a gas station and restaurants in the vicinity.
The new hotel will feature an indoor multi-functional lobby/study room, a breakfast room, an outdoor patio area, a spa, a swimming pool and a basketball court.
Steve Kieke with MSW, said the owner, Alfred Chang of Bakersfield, has built several hotels in the Valley and all have done well. “He runs a really good operation. It (hotel) will be a nice addition to the city,” Kieke told the commissioners.
“We're ready to get started,” he added, saying the owner wants to begin construction as soon as possible.
However, one glitch might be the new landscape
ordinance that just went into effect statewide. Kieke
said those added requirements might mean the loss of a
few rooms from the project. However, he was told they
can proceed with the project adhering to the new landscape
ordinance, but not requiring them to come back before
the planning commission.
Planning Commissioner Teresa Lane said she was pleased
with the project, although she questioned the added traffic
it might put on the already busy Cypress and Akers intersection.
However, she was especially pleased that it is “an
infill” project in that it is located on land already
designated for such use.
Changes Prove Healthy
For Ambulance Services
By Miles Shuper
Tulare County - When Tulare County officials decided it was finally time to perform surgery on the county's inconsistent and fragmented ambulance service rather than using a “put a bandage on it” solution, there was considerable nay-saying, especially by independent operators.
Ambulance companies certainly didn't want to lose their businesses or put their employees out of a job. They were facing an uncertain future and were determined to resist a takeover by the county. In addition, there was concern in communities and cities over losing the close-knit relationships between ambulance crews and those they serve. Many ambulance employees were hometown people who usually had day-to-day contact with those who depend on them. But county officials were convinced something had to be done. Bandaging the problem simply wasn't working.
For years, county supervisors and others
fielded complaints because ambulance companies had exclusive
operating areas which often precluded them from crossing
boundaries and creating service gaps, delays and confusion.
When Lindsay's ambulance company went out of business
several years ago, service to that area was handled by
companies in Exeter and Porterville, thinning emergency
coverage and adding to the call for an overhaul of the
system.
Supervisors and county staff, Central California Emergency
Medical Services Agency (CCEMSA) and the ambulance service
owners began forging their plans.
It took more than a year but eventually the Ambulance Providers Association of Tulare County, which included the original providers, became reality and began using the state-of-the-art dispatch system.
Today, county residents are served by the closest available ambulance and emergency medical services. The results stem from various pieces of a complex puzzle coming together.
The former independent providers, who were steadfast in their contention that consolidating the services would work, say the lowering of response times overall, proves they were right.
Don Schultz, president and co-owner of LifeStar Ambulance which serves the Tulare and Pixley areas and who contracts to manage the Exeter District Ambulance, gives the consolidation high marks.
“I would rate the consolidated system an A-plus although we will always be looking for ways to improve. Response times throughout the county are improved although they were generally good before, with the exception of select rural areas.”
Trent Fiori, owner of Imperial Ambulance which serves Porterville, agrees the teaming up of former providers into a comprehensive unit has benefited all areas of the county. He also points to the faster response times and the cooperation it took to put the plan together.
Paul Main of American Ambulance of Visalia, who played a key role in coordinating putting the new system in place, said the change was overdue. And, he points out, the uniformity in equipment, collective supply purchases, training sessions and other operational practices provide for a more cost-effective system for all the participants.
All this happened about two years after Tulare County officially became a paramedic county on Feb. 1, 2007 when all full-time ambulance services were required to have paramedics. Tulare County was one of the last, if not the last, county in California to do so, according to Dan Lynch, CCEMSA administrator whose agency oversees Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties' emergency ambulance services.
Together, the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system, which was moved to Tulare from Visalia, and the consolidated ambulance service with paramedic status, has moved the county out of what had been less than outstanding status. Dispatchers now can make split-second decisions from data calculated by the CAD system which not only monitors every available ambulance in the county but shifts coverage whenever and wherever any unit is on a service call. The CAD display screens are constantly in motion, much like an air traffic control panels. The system stores and computes past service and can calculate locations and time periods when service calls might originate.
Response time standards are based on distance from where an ambulance is stationed and take into consideration rural and remote mountain locations and urban sites.
Lynch admits that the county's decision to give existing independent ambulance operators the option to unite and form a consolidated system wasn't his favored solution to fixing a lingering problem. He anticipated bickering and conflicts and territorial disputes would prevent a smooth and quick solution, he said.
Initially, he pushed for contracting with a single provider which would have to meet stringent performance standards, including response times, billing, training and equipment requirements. Any contract, he explained, would impose financial penalties or sanctions with penalty fees which would go to reimburse costs to first responders, usually fire departments, a common practice, Lynch said.
Supervisors, pressured to not simply toss out the ambulance company owners and their workers, instead urged Lynch and his staff along with county personnel and the operators to come up with an acceptable consolidated system. It took time but finally became reality.
Lynch is now convinced that the decision to form a consolidated system was the right one. “The system is very different than it was a year ago. Ambulance companies have performance standards that are as strict as any standards in the United States. Ambulance response times are much quicker and ambulance requests receive the closest ambulance regardless of which ambulance company it is. Every ambulance has Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) capability installed and the ambulance dispatch center can quickly send the closest ambulance and also cover an area of the county where ambulances are no longer available,” he said.
The consolidated provider system “has blanketed the county with paramedic ambulances that the county has never seen before,” Lynch said, adding, “I'm confident that there are people still alive today because of the changes that Tulare County made a year ago.”
Anna Smith, who is in charge of the dispatch center, says improvement in countywide coverage is evident. There are between 110 and 130 ambulance calls per day, she explained.
She said the metro response time of 10 minutes is being met 95 percent of the time while the rural requirement of 20 minutes is also being met on 95 percent of service calls.
Vocational High School to
Give Students a Choice
By Steve Pastis
Visalia -Local students will soon
have an enhanced opportunity to use their high school
years to learn a vocation.
Visalia Technical Education Center (VTEC), a vocational
high school created to increase educational options for
students and reduce the dropout rate, will open for the
fall semester on the site of the COS Farm in Visalia.
The school is the result of a partnership between the
Visalia Unified School District and College of the Sequoias.
VUSD will lease the 16-acre campus from COS, which will move its ag education to its Tulare campus by fall 2012. The campus includes welding, food processing and ornamental horticulture facilities.
“Our current facility is pretty much a turnkey operation,” said Dr. Larry Dutto, COS dean of academic services. “It made a lot of sense since the timetable matches up. We could work together and lead the natural transition.”
“The infrastructure is much bigger than the infrastructure at a high school,” said John Ramirez, VUSD director of education options and career technical education. “Our metal programs at the high schools are probably 50 percent of what's here in terms of infrastructure and equipment.
“Sophomores will be doing what seniors are doing at the high schools,” he added. “By the time they're juniors, they will be way advanced over what a traditional program can offer.”
The senior year at VTEC will include exposing students to actual job experiences for part of the day. This will allow them to work with up-to-date equipment.
“There's never going to be enough public funding to keep up with industry standards,” said VUSD Superintendent Stan Carrizosa, about the advantages of partnering with businesses for vocational training. “That's the bridge we're building now.”
Plans are to open VTEC with 70 students. The goal is to double the enrollment to 140 in fall 2011, and to double it again to 280 in fall 2012. The target for fall 2013 is between 350 and 400 students, which are the enrollment numbers administrators plan to maintain.
“We want to have a small school,”
Ramirez said. “We want our principal, teachers and
staff to know our students.”
VTEC is part of the “Pathways” program which
provides students with a transition into COS, and later
a connection to employment. The first two pathways at
VTEC will be veterinary technician and greenhouse management.
“By year three, we're looking to branch out to manufacturing and building trades,” Ramirez said. “By year four, we will re-evaluate again.”
“Eventually, we're building to a wide
range of educational pathways,” COS President Dr.
Bill Scroggins said, adding that future pathways are expected
to include welding, ag mechanics, electrical training
and advanced manufacturing.”
Juniors and seniors will have one or two college classes
a day. College students will be also be taught at VTEC.
“The late afternoon and early evening will be college
courses that will be available to VTEC students, but also
to college students,” Scroggins said.
In addition to vocational training, VTEC students will be taught required high school courses. “We will have the need for two math classes, two engineering classes, two science classes and two history classes,” Ramirez said.
COS has no immediate plans to move the Potter Family Farms yogurt processing plant on the site to its Tulare campus, but the move may happen eventually, according to Scroggins. Milk deliveries to the plant have been incorporated into a milk truck driver training program for COS students.
COS has no immediate plans to move its horses from the site.
“Our P.E. here next year is going to be horseback riding,” Ramirez said.
Reducing the Dropout Rate
“All of the data shows us that career technical education opportunities for high school students decrease the dropout rate,” said Dutto, who expects two basic groups of students to attend VTEC, those who are succeeding in a traditional high school program, but want to pursue an education in a career-oriented school, and those who are struggling in a traditional school and are looking for a charter school where they can get an applied approach to their education.
He offered an example of an applied approach
as a student learning dairy processing getting algebra
class questions such as, “How much 2 percent milk
should be mixed with 5 percent milk to get 500 gallons
at 2-1/2 percent?”
“We want them to get engaged in these courses,”
said Kris Costa, COS director of ag education. “As
a parent, we send our children to school not to get a
degree; we send our children to school to get employed.”
Academic classes will be taught at VTEC in the two portable classrooms currently on the campus, and another one to be brought in. A house at the northeast corner of campus will be renovated to serve as the VTEC administrative offices, until VUSD takes over the site and new facilities are constructed, according to Ramirez.
An area south of the portable classrooms will be filled in to create an outdoor gathering area and the prominent barn structure is expected to become the lunch area.
COS will maintain the infrastructure of the campus, including the roofs and heating. VUSD will be responsible for routine maintenance.
COS Measure I funds will be used to resurface the parking areas, and may also be used to renovate the house and for some additional site preparation. The fields currently occupied by horses will be used by COS as practice fields for its athletic program while the track on its campus is being renovated.
There will be no freshmen at VTEC for at least the next three years, said Ramirez. School administrators want to ensure that students are given an exposure to a traditional education experience before making a decision about attending a vocational high school.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
January 28, 2010
