TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

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TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby blackturtle.us » Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:07 am

Highlights:
1) Board Member Statement Regarding Royalties - Royalties decreased from six percent to two percent. District is under financial stress due to earthquake repairs. Some of those expenses will be reimbursed by the state. Spending cuts will be necessary.
2) Superintendent - Thanked a bunch of people for their hard work.
3) Maintenance Report - Listed a bunch of ongoing construction projects and provided some information about how much progress has been made on each one. Provided reasons for delays in some of the projects. He talked a little about changes in building codes and how that has contributed to delays. Estimates to repair or replace the HS were discussed. Two estimates for the amount of damage were $55M and $48M. An estimate for the cost to build a new school was given as $40M. The district is trying to find state funding for replacement of facilities. There is a chance that the state would cover 75% of the cost, which would mean that the district would have to pay $10M if the state agreed to this arrangement which is highly speculative at this point. Other funding sources could potentially materialize for an additional $8.5M which would then leave the district with the need to come up with $1.5M. The district has the goal of rebuilding the HS within four years.
4) Principal - Updated the board on a few things. Talked about reopening the HS under a hybrid model during April. Reported that the elementary has been running really smoothly. State test coming soon.
5) Financial Report (second interim report) - ADA this year is 229. COLA has increased since first interim report. LCFF funds increased by $300K over previous projection. Despite potash royalty reduction, COVID relief funds will result in an increase of $1.7M in federal funds. State revenue will be up $600K due to earthquake repair reimbursement. Local revenue also up over $100K. Overall, that's a $1.8M increase in revenues compared to the first interim report. Projected expenditures went up a little for a number of reasons. The district currently has $11.8M in reserves with $8.5M considered "unassigned."
6) POTASH HISTORICALS - 2017-18: $3.9M, 2018-19: $4.1M, 2019-20: $3.2M, and so far for 2020-21: $2.1M.
7) Retirement Health Benefits Fund: Board member asked if money was still being put away to cover these expenses. The answer was yes with lots of details provided.
8) Retirement Incentives - Resolution to offer a retirement incentive to encourage older employees to retire. Details provided.

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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby torn80 » Sat Mar 20, 2021 6:12 am

What's the point of rebuilding the high school? It sounds like a colossal waste of money to me. Just bus students to Ridgecrest. Not only will that save money, but the students will receive a much better education over there. It's a win-win situation! The only people who want to rebuild the high school are those with a narcissistic attachment to the past. It's time for change. Move on and stop holding the students back!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby CrustyOldFart » Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:22 am

If what I hear about water rates is true, the plant may be forced to downsize its workforce in the not too distant future. If production goes down and the royalties are down, then the school will lose funding and students. The cost of busing kids to Ridgecrest is probably around $100K per year. If the cost of building a new high school is $40M, then it would be crazy to even think about anything other than busing the kids to Ridgecrest. I don't care if the money comes from the state or if it's local funds, it's still money that is coming from our taxes and wasting money like that is ridiculously irresponsible. The quality of education is much better at Burroughs and the trip over to Ridgecrest isn't that big of a deal. Think of all the workers at the plant who do it every day!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby tronagirl » Tue Mar 23, 2021 7:41 am

I hate to be a naysayer or a party pooper, but when you look at the high school issue from a financial or an educational angle, it doesn't make any sense to waste $40 million on rebuilding the high school. It's a massive waste of money, especially when the option of busing the kids to Ridgecrest exists! That might cost $100K per year in transportation costs and that amount is likely to go down as fewer and fewer people decide to live in Trona. All reports are that the chemical plant is downsizing and that would seem to indicate that there is no point in rebuilding anything here in Trona. Reality is what it is!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby MojaveMike » Wed Mar 24, 2021 6:22 am

blackturtle.us wrote:An estimate for the cost to build a new school was given as $40M. The district is trying to find state funding for replacement of facilities. There is a chance that the state would cover 75% of the cost, which would mean that the district would have to pay $10M if the state agreed to this arrangement which is highly speculative at this point. Other funding sources could potentially materialize for an additional $8.5M which would then leave the district with the need to come up with $1.5M. The district has the goal of rebuilding the HS within four years.

Sounds like a whole lot of wishful thinking to me and whether the state pays for it or whether the local school district pays for it, one thing is for sure: It's a massive waste of money. There's a point where you just have to let go of the past and realize that the best thing for students is to get bused to Ridgecrest. High school students for sure and probably middle school level students should also be bused. It makes sense any way you look at it.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby twister » Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:13 am

What I've heard is that most of the kids would rather be bused to RC anyways. It's kind of funny to hear some of what they have to say about the current state of affairs.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby tronagirl » Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:02 am

Just got off the phone with a friend and she told me her neighbor is thinking about filing a lawsuit against the school. Apparently there's a lot of construction going on at the school and the child of the neighbor fell as a result of some sort of hazard caused by the construction. The child wound up with a large scar and a huge bruise. Although the fall was witnessed by school personnel, there was no accident report filled out. Nor was the parent informed of the incident. It appears that the school does not want to own up to the irresponsibility of allowing students on campus while construction is ongoing. There are plenty of personal injury lawyers out there who are willing to take an incident like this and turn it into a serious lawsuit. Whoever is running things at the school is failing to properly protect the safety of students and that could lead to an expensive legal issue for the school.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby shotgunmary » Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:11 am

tronagirl: If the school has $11.8 million, then it can certainly afford to pay out a huge settlement. Considering their negligence, they probably deserve to!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby wildrose » Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:53 pm

Several teachers I talked with in an online chat this evening had some interesting things to say about online learning. They said that it works marvelously well for about one-third of students. It's works reasonably well for another one-third of students, but not so well for the bottom one-third of students. The biggest problem is lack of parent support. In fact, they agreed that many parents seemed to be working against their children doing well online. Despite very clear directions and plenty of communication, many parents claim that the teachers didn't tell them what their children needed to do. Parents of the bottom one-third of students were also extremely quick to complain. There was even a sense in some cases that parents were weaponizing their children and using their children to get back at the school in some way. On the other hand, most students seemed to enjoy online learning more than working in person at the school and so overall online learning has been a good experience for most students, especially those who put out an honest effort.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 18, 2021

Postby twister » Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:36 am

wildrose: No matter what you do there are going to be some people who like it and some who don't. That's just human nature. There are some claims I've heard that certain students are depressed or even suicidal BECAUSE OF online learning. I call bullshit on that. Those same students will create drama no matter what. It's just their nature. They get attention by complaining or being pathetic. It's time for those one trick ponies to learn some new tricks which aren't self-destructive and ridiculously lame!
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