Category Archives: Schools

School Board Criticized by City for Proposing a Resolution on Development

By Development, Schools

As mentioned in a previous Facebook post, when told about the City of Fremont’s plans for residential growth at our last joint meeting, all five of the School Board members expressed strong concerns as to how our schools would deal with all of this development.

At last night’s School Board meeting a resolution with the following title was on the agenda – “Support for Reducing the Negative Impacts of Unrestricted Land Development on Fremont Schools”.

The resolution begins:

“Whereas, Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) has been experiencing strong year-over-year enrollment increases as a direct result of the City of Fremont approving new housing developments that generate large numbers of new students to the school district, and … (lots more whereas statements)”

And ends:

“Now Therefore Be It Resolved, FUSD formally requests a full accounting of all available property owned or controlled by the City of Fremont, and is asking the City of Fremont to suspend further approval of all developments until the land and/or funds are provided to FUSD to build the new schools needed to house the students generated by the developments approved by the City of Fremont.”

In my opinion, this is a simple and reasonable request – don’t approve more and more development that hurts our schools.  However, the City of Fremont, without consulting with its City Council, sent a notice to the School Board asking them to reject this motion!

The Fremont Chamber of Commerce also criticized the School Board for even considering to speak out against continued, unchecked development.

Unfortunately, the School Board did cave into this pressure and did not approve the resolution.

In short, if you’re the School District and you try to speak out against the rampant development that is causing huge problems for your schools, the local City government and the local Chamber of Commerce will criticize you and tell you to stop it.  This is not right!  Let the School District tell everybody what’s really going on in this City regarding development!

Click below for the full resolutions and replies from the City of Fremont and the Chamber of Commerce.

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Superintendent Morris Joins Protest at Patterson Ranch

By Development, Schools

 

pattersonHow many school superintendents would come out on a Saturday to speak out against a development that isn’t paying it’s fair share of school fees? I don’t know, but Fremont’s Superintendent did.

I heard that after the recent increase in impact fees adopted by the School Board, the Patterson Ranch developers rushed to the City to get their final building permits to avoid paying these new fees.

Patterson Ranch was the issue that got me involved in Fremont politics over 10 years ago. The impact of this development and others on our schools, roads, etc. is only getting worse.

Green Summit Hosted by Fierce

By Environment, Schools

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Was very happy to speak last weekend at the Green Summit put on by FIERCE. FIERCE is the group of high school students from throughout Fremont that is fighting for environmental causes. They did a remarkable job organizing this with over 150 students coming out to attend.

I am so proud to see Fremont’s youth taking on the issue of the environment. Of course, their generation is going to feel the effects of climate change and pollution much more than my generation.

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It was a love of the environment, specifically the area around Coyote Hills Regional Park, that got me most interested in local politics. I used to be an avid bird photographer and loved going to Coyote Hills. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to get out there like I used to.

Congrats again to FIERCE on a very successful event.

Read more about FIERCE at http://wearefierce.weebly.com/.

I support Fremont’s Measure I on the June 6 Ballot

By Fiscal Responsibility, Schools

After my post on the State bond measure I was asked about Measure I in Fremont. I am endorsing this measure.

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Measure I is a local initiative that would extend and increase the existing parcel tax that Fremont residents pay from $53 to $73 per parcel.

I don’t think it’s a contradiction to support this measure and also be opposed to the State bond measure. Measure I will be Fremont residents paying to support Fremont schools. While some of the money may go to portables to accommodate increased demand due to new development, the money from this measure will go to the existing school needs in Fremont, which we all know are plentiful.

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Council Votes to Endorse November School Bond Measure

By Fiscal Responsibility, Schools

The City Council voted on to endorse a $9 billion Statewide bond measure that will be on the ballot this November. The vote was 4-1 with me casting the one dissenting vote. While it sounds nice to provide money for schools, this bond measure is, in my opinion, the wrong way to do it.

The bond measure puts the burden of paying for new construction on taxpayers. I believe housing developers should pay for the new school construction that is necessitated by their developments.

schoolsWe are all aware of the current school overcrowding issue in Fremont and other cities. The main reason for this is that new development has continued at a rapid pace and the State simply doesn’t have the money to build the needed schools. I believe that the responsibility for building new schools should rest on the developers that are making those new schools necessary, and profiting handsomely from those developments.

Currently, the fees that developers are required to pay to cover new school construction are capped by state law. The fees only cover about one-third of the needed infrastructure.

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