{"id":242958,"date":"2009-10-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-17T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/alba-school-moves-to-north-park\/"},"modified":"2009-10-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-17T07:00:00","slug":"alba-school-moves-to-north-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/alba-school-moves-to-north-park\/","title":{"rendered":"ALBA school moves to North Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ALBA<\/a>
ALBA school in North Park\/ Photo Ron James<\/figcaption><\/figure>ALBA school moves to North Park — But neighbors claim they had no say
\nPor Christy Scannell<\/p>\n

A school for San Diego students in crisis has moved into the former North Park Elementary School, which was closed after the 2008-09 academic year due to persistently low enrollment.
\n The Alternative Learning for Behavior and Attitude (ALBA) high school began the 2009-10 school year at its new site on Oregon Street adjacent to the North Park Community Park. ALBA previously was located in bungalows behind Crawford High School in El Cerrito.
\n \u201cThis was an opportunity to use a facility that was only partially utilized,\u201d said Bill Kowba, interim superintendent for the San Diego Unified School District. \u201c(ALBA) has gone from deteriorating portables to a permanent structure built in the late \u201990s. This location is much more beneficial.\u201d
\n ALBA is a program for students who are on suspended expulsion or have exhibited other problems with conduct at their regular high schools. Typically they spend a semester \u2013 18 weeks \u2013 at ALBA before returning to their former schools, said Vernon Moore, principal.
\n \u201cThis is where the rubber meets the road,\u201d he said. \u201cStudents who have made a mistake get an opportunity to get some personalized attention in a rigorous small-group setting.\u201d
\n Although enrollment varies from term to term, ALBA\u2019s high school usually has fewer than 30 students, 95 percent of whom are reinstated to their regular high schools. ALBA\u2019s middle school, near Marston Middle School in Clairemont, also has about 30 students. Plans call for the ALBA middle school to join the high school at the North Park site for the 2010-11 school year.
\n \u201cThe facilities were really getting in the way of being able to get these kids back on track,\u201d said San Diego Unified school board member Richard Barrera, who represents the sub-district that includes North Park. \u201cThey were in old rundown bungalows that kids really shouldn\u2019t have been in in the first place.\u201d Staffing was also difficult, he said, because the principal and other personnel shuttled between the two campuses.
\n Barrera thought the solution would be to use funds from Proposition S, which voters approved in November, to build a $6.8 million structure that would accommodate both ALBA schools. But in April, Kowba, then the district\u2019s chief logistics officer, approached Barrera with another idea.
\n \u201c(Kowba) said North Park (Elementary) has 80 kids. The threshold that the small-schools committee had set for a school that was sustainable was 400 kids. If you\u2019re under 400 kids it\u2019s difficult to justify the administrative costs of supporting the school,\u201d Barrera said. \u201cThen he said that the North Park campus would be a perfect site for ALBA because it has the capacity to bring both the high school and the middle school together. And the majority of the kids who go to ALBA live in the Mid-City area. It would be easier and more convenient for them to be able to come to school in North Park.\u201d
\n Barrera said he was sold on the idea but concerned about reaction from the elementary school\u2019s teachers and parents. \u201cMy challenge to Bill (Kowba) and the district staff was to get out first to the North Park community, talk to the parents there, the teachers, the principal. Get their sense of what their reaction would be to having the school closed,\u201d he said.
\n After a series of these meetings, Kowba reported back to Barrera that those involved with the elementary school were comfortable with the closure. \u201cWhat folks said was they knew that the school was going to have to close, that it didn\u2019t make any sense to continue on with the enrollment levels. So they were prepared to make the change,\u201d Barrera said. \u201cWe had the principals from (nearby elementaries) Garfield and Jefferson speak to the parents and they got excited about some of the things that were going on there.\u201d
\n What happened next has raised concern among some community members. While the school board voted to move ALBA to North Park on May 26, the city \u2013 which maintains a joint-use agreement with the district for the contiguous park \u2013 was not informed about the plan, nor were nearby residents, who did not find out about it until June or later.
\n \u201cIt was done in a way that would purposefully leave the community out,\u201d said Vicki Granowitz, chair of the North Park Recreation Council, an advisory committee to the city\u2019s Park and Recreation Department. \u201cNobody from the school district contacted the city or Park and Rec,\u201d she said.
\n Although the ALBA item originally appeared on the school board\u2019s May 26 agenda as a \u201cfirst reading,\u201d meaning there would be a discussion with no decision, a few days prior to the meeting \u2013 within Brown Act rules for public notice \u2013 it was modified to \u201caction,\u201d which calls for a vote.
\n Barrera explained that the change was to accommodate North Park Elementary teachers who needed to meet the district\u2019s deadline for what is known as \u201cpost and bid,\u201d a practice that reassigns staff to new schools.
\n \u201cThe teachers requested that we change it from a first reading to an action item so then they would be freed up to go through the post and bid process,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause the parents and the principal were all OK with the move, we just decided to do it as an action item.\u201d
\n Granowitz was not convinced. \u201cUsing deploying of teachers is sneaky,\u201d she said. \u201c(The district) had a lot of time to bring this to the board earlier and they chose not to. I think that\u2019s disingenuous.\u201d
\n Kowba said he had been prepared to do a community outreach effort before the vote. \u201cWe thought we\u2019d go through that process for the board to think about it, let the public comment on it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the board said, \u2018We have enough information. Let\u2019s go forward.\u2019 \u201d
\n Unlike the city, the school district is not required to seek community input on land-use issues. But that fact doesn\u2019t sit will with Granowitz, who says she fears decisions such as these could cause problems for the many joint-use agreements between the city and school district.
\n \u201cIt\u2019s true they weren\u2019t obligated, but I believe they have a good-neighbor responsibility since this is a shared site,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there was nothing suspicious they shouldn\u2019t have needed to do it that way. I\u2019d like there to be a better relationship between the city and the board of education. But if you have an individual on one side saying we don\u2019t need them, that doesn\u2019t make for a good relationship. It\u2019s a matter of working in partnership.\u201d
\n Kowba said the board\u2019s swift decision caught him by surprise as well, but it did not affect the joint-use provision. \u201cWe aren\u2019t walking away from our park responsibility. We still have a school in joint use with the park \u2013 nothing has changed in that regard,\u201d he said.
\n Barrera admitted the district acted quickly, but said he is committed to working with the neighborhood. \u201cIt is true that we made a decision that we were going to close the school and relocate ALBA before we started the process with the community,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also true that the process (afterward) with the community wasn\u2019t, \u2018Do you think this is a good idea or not?\u2019 It was, \u2018We\u2019re going to do this and now how do we make this work for the community?\u2019 ”
\n San Diego District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria acknowledged he was not told about the move prior to the board\u2019s vote. \u201cIt was probably a strategic mistake on the district\u2019s part,\u201d he said, adding he is encouraged about the possibilities of using Proposition S funds to improve the park \u2013 an area known for drug use, prostitution and other crimes.
\n \u201cOur parks are a great amenity but many people feel they can\u2019t go to this park. Park and Rec can\u2019t do much about it due to the budget situation,\u201d he said. \u201cALBA presents an opportunity to gain access to dollars that can help. I\u2019m taking the school district at their word that this is going to be a positive.\u201d
\n The North Park Community Association, led by board President Omar Passons, has taken the lead in helping the district and city prioritize ways Proposition S funds might be used to improve the combined park\/school area. The NPCA has promoted on its Web site several planning meetings, which are open to the public, where people can give input and ask questions about the school and the money that might be spent on improvements. The NPCS also participated in a neighborhood walk with district and city staff to gather residents\u2019 opinions.
\n \u201cI believe this effort can be a catalyst for this neighborhood,\u201d Passons said. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for the school district, Park and Rec, the community and Todd Gloria\u2019s office to come together and do something for this area that really matters.\u201d
\n The NPCA\u2019s Web site lists three actions that are to result from the meetings: a volunteer-supported mentoring program for ALBA students, a security subcommittee to determine safety needs, and a cost-analysis plan for upgrading the joint-use fields. The latter two have a self-imposed target deadline of Nov. 18 for developing strategies.
\n \u201cThe individual partners will make a decision on what they can and cannot fund,\u201d Passons said about the proposals.
\n Not all the changes on the NPCA\u2019s wish list are costly. \u201cI would like to see a lot of the deterioration around the park \u2013 the chain-link fence and weeds and trash \u2013 gone. And we have a reasonable chance to affect that change. I\u2019ll be very surprised if we don\u2019t look up and see a very different portion of North Park there in a year or so,\u201d Passons said.
\n Gloria said security cameras are a good example of what the city and district might be able to fund together, using the district\u2019s existing monitoring system. \u201cBut this conversation is not complete yet,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cA lot of the residents\u2019 concerns pre-dated ALBA, yet I have felt (the district) has been extremely open and clear with my office and responsive to my general concerns. They\u2019ve been very available and open.\u201d
\n Accessibility is a quality Barrera would like to see attributed to the school district more often. \u201cI was determined that there was going to be a real community process in making this transition,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s actually a really solid example of when the district decides to reach out beyond its boundaries, work with community organizations and work with the city that positive things can happen, rather than just sort of putting your head down and avoiding the conversation because you think that there might be contentious issues.
\n \u201cI think this is a model for the way the district needs to operate,\u201d Barrera said.<\/p>\n

Christy Scannell es una escritora y editora independiente que vive en North Park.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALBA school moves to North Park — But neighbors claim they had no say By Christy Scannell A school for San Diego students in crisis has moved into the former North Park Elementary School, which was closed after the 2008-09 academic year due to persistently low enrollment. The Alternative Learning for Behavior and Attitude (ALBA) […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":242959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"ALBA school moves to North Park","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}