By DAVID ROSS
About a hundred people turned out Thursday for a celebration dear to all small towns: The beginning of a new school.
The scene was the oak-tree lined glade in front of the site where the 700 student Lilac Elementary School will open its doors one year from now.
Master of ceremonies Jeff Mulford, superintendent of the VC-Pauma School District, introduced the people who are helping to make the school a reality.
Mulford’s Remarks
He started with John Bailey, CEO of Lusardi Construction.
“John has been significant in the development of this project,” said Mulford. “Next to him you have Tom Robinson who is director of facilities for the San Diego County Office of Education, probably one of the most knowledgeable persons on school facilities in San Diego County, perhaps the state. Tom McAndrews is chairman of the Valley Center High School Foundation. Tom is here representing the foundation and the high school. Pat Jewell is here for the water district. We will consult with Pat in terms of getting the water on for the project.
“And Karen Jobe, who will be the new superintendent of Valley Center-Pauma School District, beginning on Nov. 15. Thank you, Karen for coming.
“Lydia Vogt will be principal of Lilac School when it hopefully opens about a year from now. She is currently the principal of the primary school.”
He also introduced former trustee Sterling Dorman.
“Sterling was a longtime member of the school board, who used to invite all of the employees of the Valley Center School District to her house and we’d go there in the summertime. And I mean all of the employees, of the children all of the families, everybody,” said Mulford. “Sterling, we have over 600 employees today.”
He noted that the bridge crossing the stream in front of the school site is no longer passable by auto or foot. Here is where the entrance will be.
“The $400,000 bridge will go here. You probably won’t be able to see the school from the road because all of this will be left as it is in a natural state. We’re removing as few trees as possible.
“It’s the first completely design build school that I know of, in San Diego County. By doing that and working very closely with Lusardi and the architect we’ve saved a considerable amount of money for the taxpayers and people of Valley Center.
“This is not the first Lilac elementary school. The first was built a little bit before 1900. Lilac school district had a one room school house.
“So I think it was appropriate for the school board to rename this school Lilac.
“There were four school districts in Valley Center and Pauma and all had one rooms and they all (except for Pauma) combined in 1920, when they built the school that is presently VC Community hall.
“VC purchased the property about nine years ago.We’ve had quite a few environmental concerns getting the project approved. When we finally got all that approved the state ran out of money.
“We look forward to it being open about this time next year with about a month to move in. It will open with about 700 students.
“I think it will be a beautiful school. Even though the creek caused some environmental concerns, I think it will fit well with the school district. It will be one of the prettiest elementary schools around.
“It will open with a microseptic system, the first elementary school in the county, we believe, to work off a septic system contained in one container. The County Health Dept. is agreeing to a study here, providing we have enough land back up for a leach field in case it doesn’t work.
“If it does work it will have interesting ramifications around Valley Center in terms of leach fields and septic systems.”
Dr. Mulford introduced Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn:
“Bill has been a significant part of the Valley Center education system. The first civic job he did was his search for a high school site in VC. He led that committee and looked at I think 32 different sites, prior to selecting the site on Cole Grade Road today.
“Following that, we encouraged Bill, because of his participation in that committee, to run for the Escondido High School District board. We wanted somebody from Valley Center to be on that board while we were planning and trying to develop VC High School. Bill ran and was elected and was reelected several times and has been on the Board of Supervisors for some time. He lives within a mile of the ground here, so we asked him if he couldn’t come by here and make a few remarks.”
Horn’s Remarks
“I appreciate being able to just stop by since I went down to San Diego and came back again. I do live right down the canyon here. Barbara Rohrer probably can’t see it from her house but I can probably see it from mine.
“This is the kind of progress that we want. The school will be a good neighbor. It’s great. By the way it was 42 sites that we looked at and two lawsuits. Actually, the high school has brought the community and the unified district all together. A lot of people helped that to happen. Sterling was here during all that time and it’s wonderful to see you back here. So, anyway thank you for picking this site.Valley Center is a great place to live.
“We’re very fortunate at the moment that we don’t have this fire rolling through us and I won’t get into that for the moment. But there is the state budget. Somebody asked me about the performing arts center, which we are very enthusiastic about. Our problem is that we don’t have a state budget and very soon we’re going to be moving into our reserves. I have a library to finish by November. So, I’m not making any commitments, guys, but I’m very, very excited about that and we’ll see what we can do once these guys figure out their act in Sacramento. That’s probably one of the shortest speeches you’ve ever heard.”
“Shortest, and one of the best,” commented Mulford, who introduced board president Pat Simpson.
Board President’s Remarks
“I’d like to recognize the rest of the board for their job in supporting the community. They are a pleasure to work with and they make being on the board a lot of fun. You’ve got Lori Johnson, Dr. Van Wyk, Wendy Zeugschmidt and Barbara Rohrer.
“We as a board are very excited about this. It’s been a long time coming. It’s exciting and I think it’s great for the neighborhood. I’m happy to see that some of these kids are not going to have to have one hour bus drives. I know I wasn’t looking forward to that with my kids when we were able to get the high school.
“It’s going to be nice for the community to be able to have all of these fields to play on after school as well as during school with all of the sports and help out the schools on the other side.
“It’s been an education on all the hoops that we to jump through getting something like this done right. Hopefully, we can streamline it. If not, then I would suggest that we start right now for the site across the road from the middle school building our future school. It takes a long time.”
Dr. Mulford then introduced the architect, Rick Davy.
“Rick is a Harvard graduate and lead architect with Rick Davy and Associates and a former fighter pilot in the navy.
‘That’s kind of an interesting combination. Former Harvard graduate and fighter pilot. It’s been a pleasure working with Rick on the development of this school.
Rick Davy’s comments
“I’m probably preaching to the choir here if I say that educational facilities are really important. We kind of equate education with freedom the more we think about it. the more educated our people are, the freer our country. You see that all over the world. So, I know you know that these facilities are important. What you may also realize is that money is tight. As Supervisor Horn mentioned, the state is running a $23 billion shortfall. This school would have been under construction two years ago if it hadn’t been for the fact that the bond money had dried up from the last state bond. We’re hoping that we’ll get this state bond this November. So money is tight.
“The other thing is, time is short. We’re going through kind of a boomlet now in kids. They’re coming from everywhere. I was in the previous boom. I go back to the 50s. And back in the 50s and 60s I went to a school that was a wood frame stucco building and there were many like them in the Los Angeles school district where we built a ton of schools in a short period of time.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t build them very well. So, now we’re having to go back and renovate and modernize those schools and spend more money. So we have money problems and we have time problems. Jeff wanted me to talk a little bit about design build, and I’ll do it in just a minute, because it speaks to the heart of both of those compelling needs.
Design build is a process where, unlike the traditional method, where the school district would hire the architect, we’d spend a year designing the school, and then we’d go out to bid, and we’d get bids in, and then it would cost whatever—Design build recognizes that most facilities cost what they’re designed to cost. What design build does is it brings the builder, the constructor, the architect and the owner all together at the beginning. What a novel concept. Although actually it’s not all that novel because other buildings have been built that way for years and years. Doug Manchester’s hotels are design build projects and so is our new ball park, come to think of it.
“So we have finally managed to bring a very efficient and value-based method for designing and building to actually do schools. And that is really the real significance of this school beyond it’s just innate significance, is that had it gone ahead on time, had the money been available then this whole project would have been done in just two years.
“In the last year, while we’ve been waiting for funding here, we’ve managed to design and construct and open in just another week an educational opportunity school, a continuation high school, on the Valley Center campus using the design build system. That just speaks volumes to what can be done and what needs to be done here in our state, in our county and certainly up here in North County.
“And, by the way, it is North County that is taking lead in all this. Most all of the design build projects that have gotten started have occurred right here in North County.
“Dr. Mulford was hugely courageous in retaining ourselves and Lusardi as a design build team to do this. He really kind of pioneered this. This is a very unique process and Jeff had the courage to say, you know this makes sense to me, let’s just do this. So we owe you a enormous debt of gratitude. Thanks a lot!”
Dr. Mulford then concluded with a few remarks about John Bailey, CEO of Lusardi Construction.
“I told John Bailey that I’d introduce him but I wouldn’t make him speak. But it is his birthday. It is nice that the CEO of a large construction company would come to Valley Center on groundbreaking ceremony on the day of his birthday
“He won’t speak, but that means I get to talk about you. You either speak for yourself or I talk about you. As an example of this guy: In designing a school we brings teachers and principals together as a committee and we look at different schools and never before has a chief executive officer of a large construction company been sitting in on all those meetings at teacher level. It was so well done, he knows construction so well, he’s lived it, he’s a very knowledgeable construction person— but just in swapping off things and costs, and this more expensive and this is a better way to go— I think this project is coming in at about $2 million dollars less, largely because of Rick and John working together with us, even at the very beginning of planning.
“Now, we haven’t seen the school built and we’ll judge the success of the process when we see the school, but nonetheless up to this point it’s been a real pleasure working with both Lusardi and Rick Davy.”
At this point he brought forward the school board to give them a plaque as a memento of the event.
The family that campaigns together, stays together— at least in Valley Center, where three married couples are among the 22 candidates for seven available seats on the VC Planning Group.
Now that’s an election!
The three couples running for the planning group are John Vick and Lael Montgomery; Mary Meade and Brian Bates and Kaela & Noel Laue of the family of VC glass artists.
Other candidates include dentist and longtime former school board trustee Ron Adair, former longtime planning group chairman Craig Adams, stepping out of political retirement; entrepreneur Ronald Andes; Pikake Gardens owner Clyde Childress; business owner J.R. Clasen; incumbent and current planning chairman Larry Glavinic; incumbent and nursery owner Robert Hancock; incumbent and Bear Valley Supply owner Eric Laventure; business consultant Ronald P. Perry; incumbent and high school vice-principal Mel Schuler; housewife-parent Vicki Sheedy; RN and business owner Mirra Smith; electrical engineer Oliver Smith; former planning group member Cal Townsend; and general manager Terry Van Koughnett. Sheedy and Smith are both property owners from the Hellhole area, the subject of much controversy as the current GP2020 plan is being hammered out locally.
At stake is control of the planning group during one of the most pivotal periods in Valley Center’s history, while the community, and the County, are in the midst of a general plan update (GP2020).
VC Water Board
On the VC Municipal Water District board, Div. 3, Gary Broomell, a citrus rancher who has been on the board for three decades and Robert Silverman will face off.
In Div. 2, appointed incumbent Randy Haskell will face Michael J. Finton, an associate college professor.
VC Parks & Rec
Incumbents Fran DeWilde, a Realtor; Eric Jockinsen, board president are running for reelection. Challenging them will be Tom Bumgardner, VC’s honorary mayor; Tom Litchfield, Milo McGarrigle, a concierge and event planner; Tirso Ruiz, Girls’ softball board member and Terry Van Koughnett, a general manager.
Deer Springs Fire Protection District
Three seats are open on the fire district board that serves the Old Castle, Lilac & I-15 Corridor areas. VC Honorary Mayor Tom Bumgardner is challenging incumbents Donald Copp, Carol Fleisher and Robert Winje.
VC-Pauma School Board
All three incumbents in the VC-Pauma Unified School District, Lori A. Johnson, Barbara P. Rohrer and Henry Vane Wyk, have filed and so has a challenger, Mike Morasco, a businessman/physical therapist and former trustee on the Escondido High School District board.
VC Fire Protection District
Board Pres. Mel Schuler and fellow incumbents Mike Pacheco and Dan Thornton will be reelected to four year terms since no one filed to run against them.
Yuima Water District
On the Yuima Municipal Water District board, in Pauma, Christine Brearton will be elected to Div. 1 and W.D. “Bill” Knutson will be elected to Div. 4 without opposition.
Pauma Municipal Water District
Yoneo Kariya, a rancher, will be elected to the Div. 4. seat and Warren Lyall, a farmer, will be elected to the Div. 2 seat since no one filed to run against them. The Div. 3 seat, having no candidates, will be filled by appointment.
Mootamai Municipal Water District
Jeanie S. Schell will be elected to the Div. 4 seat, Sandra Luehers will be elected to the Div. 3 seat and Don A. Cline will be elected to the Div. 1 seat without opposition.
Pauma Valley Community Services District
Joan B. Hamill, Lloyd S. McLelland and Ronald Stewart have been appointed to the board without opposition.
The Valley Roadrunner
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Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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