SAN FRANCISCO—There was a meeting on October 25, where the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees voted on the Mater Plan for Phases ll and lll of Measure J, which would make school improvements. The end result of the votes was 3-2, including the supporting votes of Vice President Phil Weise, Trustee Maurice Goodman and student board member Alex Moreno. Trustee Liza Normandy and President Judy Bush voted against the Measure J.
The main argument discussed in the meeting was if science classrooms should be the priority before other amenities. Superintendent Alejandro Hogan spoke about how science classrooms are “below the line” of what currently the bond program can afford to pay, requiring an additional $9 million, which is not part of Phases II and III. Mr. Hogan added that there are supplementary monies outside Measure J bonds that can potentially be used for the science classrooms.
The plan was passed, but science classrooms had to be “above the line” in order to be funded by Measure J. Vice President Weise mentioned to Patch News that certain items in the Master Plan related to athletics would either be rearranged or “taken out” so classroom improvements are the main priority. It was also suggested to the board by a district staff that applying for Race to the Top (a federal grant program) was not advisable.
