Seven frustrated residents took the podium one by one during the public portion of Tuesday’s Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education meeting with one clear message: Reopen the Burnett school site on Tilton Avenue as a neighborhood elementary school.
Homeowners in the surrounding northwest Morgan Hill area pleaded with the seven-member board to reconsider their earlier decision to use $7 million of Measure G funds, the $198 million bond approved by voters in November 2012. The money will be used to modernize the former elementary school so it can become the new home for Central Continuation High School for the start of the 2013-14 school year.
Trustees listened but did not address the residents, as speakers are given a strict three-minute time slots to address the board. At the previous March 12 school board meeting, the board also heard from a dozen community members opposing the Central-to-Burnett move before voting 6-1 for its approval.
“No, we’re not revoting on that,” said Badillo, who was the lone opposing vote for the Central move to the Burnett site. Badillo told the Times there has been no discussion between himself and any other board members on the contrary.
“I have my own concerns,” he continued, “but I’m only one of seven.”
Trustee Bob Benevento confirmed: “I have no reservations about it at all.”
Back in March, Badillo told the Times that the decision “needed some more thought process and advanced planning,” although he understood the district’s “sense of urgency to get the facility ready for next school year.”
Residents cited statistics on growth within the Burnett school boundary area, where they said hundreds of new houses will soon be filled with young families of elementary-aged children.
One elementary school-aged student named Andre Gutierrez asked the board to “please open Burnett as an elementary school, so I can walk my little brothers to school.”
Gutierrez and his family live in the Capriano neighborhood, the residential area encompassing the Burnett campus. Capriano residents have been the most vocal of those opposed to moving Central to Burnett, as many of those families have young children and want a neighborhood elementary school for them to attend.
Gutierrez’s plea was met with silence from the board, save for a “thank you, Andre” from President Don Moody, who said at a previous board meeting in March after hearing residents’ pleas: “No, I do not (have any reservations about moving Central to Burnett).”
Residents have the opportunity to speak on any topic not on the school board agenda at the beginning of each Board of Education meeting, as was the case of those addressing the Central-to-Burnett move during the April 16 meeting.
Some residents who spoke during the April 16 meeting such as Che Hammond, Mary Bacca and Roy Bannister had previously voiced their strong stances to the board and came back to speak up again, while others including Jeff Mollenauer and Marby Lee – a former Morgan Hill City Council Member who last served in 2010 – were making their first appearances on the issue.
Even the loud applause that followed each speaker did not garner a reaction from the board members, who sat and listened as residents asked for a revote and reconsideration on the use of the Burnett site.
“Not in the least,” Superintendent Wes Smith told the Times, when asked if requests for a revote would be considered. The only reason he would consider a revote, Smith added, is if the first vote was not done in a proper manner or if new information came to light since the initial vote.
In order for a revote on the issue to occur, one trustee who voted for the renovation as a continuation high school would have to call for a revote and another trustee must second that motion.
“There’s no new information…growth is not the issue. We can accommodate the growth,” said Smith, whose staff hired a professional demographer to analyze the growth concerns before the board voted on the Central move. Smith added the district has other locations that could be used to accommodate any growth at the elementary school level, but did not specify where those areas are located.
“We have the ability to build another elementary school (if necessary),” Smith said.
Residents have also taken to cyber space on the issue, setting up a Facebook page titled, “Reopen Burnett Elementary.” At several intersections around town, members of this group have also placed green-and-white signs that read, “ReOpen Burnett Elementary School,” and instruct residents to visit their Facebook page.
At last weekend’s farmers market, Hammond asked residents about their opinions on the board’s decision to hand the elementary site to a continuation school. Among the responses he received were: “Wrong priority of the district to plan for growth of a continuation school rather than improving the existing elementary schools;” “Seems like a lot of money to spend on so few kids;” and “These kids are up to no good. I wouldn’t want them in my neighborhood. I’d fight this tooth and nail.”
Bacca said that she has spoken with parents, teachers and residents, as well as home and school club presidents, who were for the modernization plans of Burnett but against the use of the site for expanding Central.
“Go ahead and modernize Burnett,” she concluded. “But keep it as an elementary school.”
While other Capriano residents said they bought their homes because of the neighborhood elementary school, Marby Lee added another perspective from someone who does not live in the area surrounding Burnett. Lee’s issue was “public trust for elected officials and the use of funds.”
She said everyone she knows had no idea when they voted for Measure G that those funds were going to be used for a continuation high school. Lee also warned that the board’s decision could negatively effect the district’s ability to pass future public bonds.
Measure G funds were approved with 64 percent vote in November 2012 and are designated for capital improvements. The money is controlled by MHUSD, not the state or federal government.
Smith, however, reiterated to the Times that the money is not being used in any way to fund the move of Central. The money is being used to modernize Burnett, just as MHUSD plans to modernize every school in the district so “all facilities are 21st century ready.”
The Burnett renovations are the first use of voter-approved Measure G bond dollars, which total $198 million. Other potential projects, not yet voted on by the board, include the construction of a multipurpose room at the Charter School of Morgan Hill, fencing at Britton Middle School and various roofing projects at other facilities.
“We are not being reckless with this money (from Measure G). We are being very calculated,” Badillo said. “Every school will be touched by Measure G funds.”
In spring of 2009, MHUSD’s board voted unanimously to close Burnett Elementary. The move has saved the district $400,000 annually in administrative and maintenance costs, according to Smith.
