Five Ayes Put School Bond on June Ballot

The CCUSD School Board meeting at El Rincon on Feb 25 finalized the lengthy effort to put a school bond before the voting public with a unanimous yes from the board.

As the most recent stop on the ‘road show’ taking the board meeting to the schools in the district, the board met at El Rincon to bring more parents into the audience and to hear the annual report from Principal Reginald Brunson on the ‘state of the school.’ The long prepared-for agenda item to vote on the language for the bond was the most commented on issue of the evening, with parents and community activists enthusiastically supporting the decision.

Jody Reichel,  president of the Culver City Council PTA, stated “As a volunteer at the schools I’ve spent a lot of time at our school sites … and there are a lot of unmet needs. I was thrilled this [past] summer when you started meeting some of them, and it’s just a beginning of what needs to be done.  There are science labs that need to be updated – there are students at Culver Park who need a permanent campus – the Robert Frost needs many repairs – It’s amazing what these kids do, and just  imagine what they could do if we gave them everything we need.” Supporting the bond on the ballot, she was pleased that the process was moving forward.

The end of the evening was the decision to put the $106 million bond before Culver City voters on June 3, 2014.

“The community is behind this bond issue because we all recognize how important it is to have safe, high-quality schools for our children,” said Board President Laura Chardiet. “We’re excited about this step, but now, it is important for all of us to work together to get the bond passed.”

Since beginning the process of spending the capital improvements fund three years ago, it was clear that there were far more improvements needed than funds available. Passage of the bond will provide CCUSD with the funding needed to make critical safety improvements to our schools and prepare our students for future success. Focused on keeping the funds under local control and spending to complete needed repairs and upgrade facilities.

Board member Kathy Paspalis offered ” Tuesday night was a great moment for our kids and our community. I look forward to further discussions with our Culver City residents regarding the schools’ facility needs and how we can join together to help.”