REMINDER: ATTEND MEETINGS JUNE 6, 5-7 PM (SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH) AND JUNE 14, 6-8 PM (EIR), 
BONSALL COMMUNITY CENTER.  
Thank you!
Massive brick and mortar monster development proposed for Gird Road! 
new report
Even though North County voters  have denied a high school on Gird Road fully five times, it keeps coming back. Bonsall Unified School District (BUSD) is now undergoing the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process and you need to comment on the massive brick and mortar monster development proposed for Gird Valley and attend the meeting on the EIR process on June 14, from 6-8 PM, at the Bonsall Community Center, 31505 Old River Road, Bonsall. 

Additionally, under pressure from community outrage over the proposed Gird Road project and underpaid teachers working without contracts, BUSD's controversial pro-growth Superintendent Justin Cunningham has announced he's retiring. BUSD is asking for community input on the next Superintendent at a stakeholder forum June 6, from 5 to 7 PM, at the Bonsall Community Center .  An online survey is also available to the public on the BUSD website through June 12. 
 
Please ask for zero development on Gird Road and a slow growth superintendent who focuses on teaching, not building! We need a leader who recognizes that attempts to fund building on Gird Road site have been rejected by the community fully 5 times at the ballot box.

Underlying BUSD's progression into the pro-growth arena is the very strong relationship between school district administrators, governing boards and developers looking for a portion of taxpayer funds accumulating in Sacramento. 

With a shift from local to state funding, lobbying organizations created advocacy organizations to promote a pro-development agenda.  For example, California's  Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) has established multiple organizations focusing on school facilities. CASH  calls its monthly newsletter the  CASH Register.  I kid you not. 


Since 1978, CASH and its affiliates have "sponsored or supported over $61 billion in statewide school bonds to build and/or modernize thousands of schools", including passage of 2016's State Proposition 51 for $9 billion. Additionally, developers paid for campaigns to secure another $58M for BUSD to build a huge 1,500-student high school on Gird Road (failed, the fifth fail at the ballot box) and another $45M for updating Fallbrook High School (passed).

As a result of all this advocacy work, BUSD's direction has shifted from education/teachers to development. In 2012, when BUSD petitioned to become a unified school district and include a high school,  BUSD assured us all that it was about education, stating: "We do not want, nor do we need a massive brick and mortar high school ......Nor do we need fifty acres of dirt to accomplish our mission."

BUSD promised it would deliver "A small academy-style Bonsall high school ... established at an existing facility, likely Sullivan Middle School, to serve 500 to 600 students." 

Currently BUSD' s high school serves just 228 students housed in a brand new 350-student capacity building adjacent to Sullivan Middle School. But now school administrators want more. They are seeking to build a 150,000 sq. ft. project to house 1,500 students in Fallbrook on Gird Road. BUSD does not have the funding to do so and and the community does not support it but the developers do. And hence the battle. 
 
Meanwhile, just a few miles to the west, Fallbrook High School's approximately 2,000 students are housed in buildings designed to serve over 4,000. The community supported and passed a $45M bond last year to enhance Fallbrook High School's site. 

And just to the east of Interstate 15, even as Palomar College's enrollment is in decline, its North Campus is breaking ground, another 380,000 sq. ft. of buildings! With BUSD's plans to implement an AA program in conjunction with Palomar College, wouldn't it seem a more judicious use of taxpayer dollars to simply lease classroom space at the new Palomar Campus North?
Fallbrook residents give a thumbs down to a 1500-student Bonsall High School on FALLBROOK's Gird Valley hills. 
Proposed building site with stunning view of Monserate Hill in the background. March 10, 2017. 

How much urban sprawl do we support in Fallbrook and Bonsall? 

Two items need our comments. Both have short deadlines: 
  • Prior to June 12: comment on the search for a new BUSD Superintendent. 
  • Prior to June 26: comment on the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) notice for the massive brick and mortar monster proposed for Gird Road in Fallbrook. 
And we have two meetings that need our attention, both at the Bonsall Community Center, 31505 Old River Road, Bonsall:
  • June 6, from 5-7 PM (SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH). 
  • June 14, from 6-8 PM (EIR). 
We have everything you need to know stored in the Key Documents section  of our website, along with a new report  by our friends at Citizens for Accountability in Taxation and Education (CATE)! 

Follow the directions for commenting and please cc us at  [email protected] 


Sincerely,

Teresa Platt
Steering Committee Member
   

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SAVE GIRD VALLEY:  

Protect Fallbrook's rural character! Gird Valley looking south to Monserate Hill and the San Luis Rey River Valley
A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who worked in 2016 to save Gird Valley! We look forward to working with you in 2017 and beyond!  

REMINDER: ATTEND MEETINGS:
JUNE 6, 5-7 PM (SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH) and 
JUNE 14, 6-8 PM (EIR), 
 Bonsall Community Center, 31505 Old River Rd, Bonsall. 
Thank you!