March 22, 2006 - Top Stories
The upcoming Miss Valley Center Pageant (this Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Maxine) is headed up by a new president, Debra Jockinsen.
Dianna Green was the president since 2002 when the Valley Center Pageant Assn. was started. A former Miss Valley Center (1996), Greene knew the value of going through the program.
“It was a worthwhile program when I did it and I just thought there was so much more that we could do with it,” said Greene. “That’s when we started ramping up fund-raising and scholarships and making it more worthwhile and educational. Now all the dollars coming in go to the girls.”
Greene says she is sad to not be there this year for the pageant. She will be across the country at her new home state, Florida.
Mrs. Jockinsen has been involved in the Miss Valley Center Pageant for 14 years. She is now the VC Pageant Assn’s president and director of the pageant.
She said the association tried to keep everything the same this year as it was easier on everyone. The only notable change is that the pageant will be held at the Maxine Theatre instead of the Valley Center Middle School.
Mrs. Jockinsen served as vice president before being handed the title of president this year.
“It just made sense. I live here, I know everyone and the pageant organization is a major organization I deal with,” she said. “It was a welcome position.”
The value of the pageant is an important message for her.
“We get to see these girls grow up and spend time with them and also feel like we are doing something good,” she said. “A lot of the girls come back in their middle 20s and say that [the Miss Valley Center Pageant] changed the way they think and handle themselves.”
Volunteers who have made the journey to the final pageant night easier include: Karen Greene who helped with the program and practices, Pam Postuma, Eric Jockinsen who secured the judges, co-director Alida Diaz, Keri Salman and Margie Morales.
“Our goal was to raise scholarship money and it has been so nice to work well together. It makes it easier when there are no frustrations and no quarrels,” said Mrs. Jockinsen.
You are invited to attend the pageant March 25 at the Maxine Theater.
Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. You can buy tickets from the six contestants or call Debra Jockinsen at 751-1051.
Doors open at 6:30 and the curtain rises at 7 p.m.
The famous mounted California grizzly bear at the Valley Center History Museum may have a new name: Smoky.
It was among some exhibits at the museum that were exposed to smoke early Thursday evening when a heating unit outside of the museum caught fire, pouring smoke through ducts into the museum.
Chief Rich Bolton of CDF reported on the incident at Thursday night’s fire board meeting. He said that the heater for the museum room had an electrical short, caused by water dripping down on a capacitor from recent rains. The alarm began ringing about 5:30 p.m.
The capacitor in turn dripped hot insulation and sparks onto the humidifier’s insulation padding. This caused blue smoke to pour into the museum through air ducts.
Firefighters arrived just in time to keep an actual fire from spreading into the building.
Firefighters and Sheriff’s deputies helped museum board President Bill Hutchings and board members Ira Good and Norm Syler to take pieces of the collection into the nearby library while the source of the smoke was located.
Bolton joked that from now on the eight foot tall bear may be “Smoky the Bear.”
Once the smoke was cleared the room still had a slight odor of smoke.
On Friday morning Hutchings was at the museum, running fans to clear the smoky smell.
He said that the County would have to replace the furnace and clean out the ducts. Other than that, the museum seems to be unharmed.
“We really appreciated those guys [firefighters and deputies],” said Hutchings. “They are the nicest guys!”
Six engines, including a truck from Pala Reservation answered the call.
* * *
The Museum will be closed until Tuesday, April 4, so that County workers can repair or replace the damaged electric units and restore electricity to the building.
Hutchings said the building could open earlier if County crews complete the job sooner.
At the end of a series of three community meetings it is hoped that local representatives will have hammered out a plan to take Valley Center’s roadways well into the next few decades.
The first meeting will be with the Circulation Subcommittee of the VC Planning Group, March 30, 6 p.m., at the VC Library. Chairman is Andy Washburn.
The next meeting will be the regular meeting of the VC Planning Group, April 10, 7 p.m., VC Community Hall. Recommendations from the subcommittee will be presented, along with a presentation by Bob Citrano, a senior planner with the County Dept. of Planning & Land Use. Citrano has been guiding the planning group through the General Plan 2020 process.
The third meeting will be a special meeting of the planning group, April 24, 7 p.m., at the middle school. The planning group will vote on the recommendations given by the subcommittee.
This process will be the culmination of many meetings that the Circulation Subcommittee of the VC Planning Group has had with Citrano over the past year.
Citrano and county staff have done computer models of the community plan so far adopted to see how it affects existing roads.
He will present a menu of options that the planning group must choose from. These will include proposed new roads as well as expanded existing roads.
Also to be discussed will be road standards, i.e. what sort of roads they will be.
The public is invited to and will have a chance to participate in all three meetings.
Mariachi music and Mexican food will set the stage for the Pauma Valley Community Association’s annual meeting Monday, April 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The dinner is free to all in the community who join the association simply by paying dues. To make a reservation, call Sue Stockton at 742-1461.
El Rey, Pauma Valley’s Mexican food restaurant will cater the event.
“Pauma Valley — Today and Tomorrow,” a panel discussion featuring Supervisor Bill Horn; Lt. Sean Gerrity, County Sheriff’s Dept; Lin Burzell, Director of Yuima Municipal Water District; and Joe Chisholm, Chairman Pala-Pauma Sponsor Group will be presented.
Guests will be encouraged to ask questions of the panel members. Jack Woods will moderate.
The Pauma Valley Community Assn. continues to make strides which benefit those who live and work in Pauma Valley and neighboring Valley Center.
Most recently, a professional grade backstop was installed at the baseball field, and the new soccer field is up and running. The Neighborhood Community Health Care Clinic is the main tenant on the property at 16650 Hwy 76, next to St. Francis Church in Pauma Valley.
Sue Stockton, PVCA President, will introduce board members at the meeting, and new board members will be nominated and elected. The public is encouraged to take part in this annual event dedicated to the Pauma Valley community.
Palomar Mountain residents are organizing to save their picturesque, tiny school from the budget-cutting knife at the VC-Pauma School District.
No one has said that the school will be closed. A Budget Advisory Committee is looking at all sorts of options to cut costs, including charging for busing.
A decision must be made by the June school board meeting.
The district is in a pickle. Three years of declining enrollment and the loss of $800,000 in federal impact funds, have created a deficit of $500,000.
Closing the mountain school is one option being studied to save money. Supt. Lou Obermeyer calculates that closing the one-room schoolhouse will save $53,709.
Another option is a half time teacher, working 8 a.m.–noon, who would cover core subjects, but probably not P.E. or arts.
Under this scenario the Boys & Girls Club would provide afternoon day care so students would still be in school, have adult supervision, be able to do homework and enrichment activities.
This would save $25,188, half the salary of a teacher, plus other savings, says Dr. Obermeyer.
Palomar Mountain School, which has operated on Canfield Road near the observatory since the 1940s, has averaged a dozen students in grades K-8. Attendance has been as high as 40 per year. A school has operated somewhere on the mountain since the 1800s.
This year it has 11 students. Six are expected to attend next year. With such numbers the district loses money on the school.
Adding to the problem, says Dr. Obermeyer, is the fact that Palomar’s students don’t attend school as regularly as the rest of the district. Average Daily Attendance, by which the school is reimbursed for each child, is 90.4%, compared to 94% districtwide.
A deed from Cal Tech, which operates the Observatory, was granted “in order to maintain school on the heights of Mount Palomar” in 1950. Most maintenance is done by parent volunteers, lessening operating costs.
Local residents also raise money for field trips with bake sales and other fund-raisers.
They drive children to the school. The bus that operates on the mountain transports students to VC High School.
If the school does close or is cut back, it will be the victim of the unification that was a boon for the rest of the former Pauma Union School District.
When it was just Pauma, the mountain school qualified for Necessary Small Schools money from the State of California.
The two districts combined was too large to qualify.
In 2000 Gov. Gray Davis vetoed a bill to restore this status to Palomar. He reasoned that the VC district was rich enough to pay the difference.
Residents such as Bruce Baker, part of the committee to save the school, points out that the districts that qualify for Necessary Small Schools are close to ours in size.
It’s actually only two schools, says Olivia Leschick, Administrator in Charge of Special Projects.
They are Rand Elementary School in Kern County, a K-3 with nine students; and Hot Springs Elementary School in Tulare County. Two other schools that were getting the money closed recently.
Leschick spoke to the Superintendent / Principal at Hot Springs Elementary. He told her that special legislation was passed for $50,000 which will terminate after Jan. 2009. The school has 22 students.
“Our stance,” says Baker, “is they are getting the money, we don’t see why Palomar Mountain school is not getting it.”
Forming the Glue
Fund-raisers and social events on Palomar concern either the school or fire department. Not much else gets peoples’ motors running.
Of the two, the school arouses the most passion.
It forms the glue of the community; the center around which its social and civic life orbits.
“The entire community supports both of these organizations,” says Tom Cunningham, another member of the community, but with no children attending the school. “We are all independent but we all help one another.”
Concerned parents met with Dr. Obermeyer Wednesday.
They were uninterested in options that don’t keep the school open full time.
Ken Morrish, who with his wife, Peggy, have a 7th grader in school, told The Roadrunner, “I think they grasp our feelings about the school and the overall community feelings of wanting to keep it. And really having no other option of providing the kids with a great education. We think the traditional school is the best way to do that.”
Old Fashioned Education
Parents laud the old-fashioned education offered.
Says Morrish, whose oldest daughter graduated three years ago, “It provides a very good education in the basics. They can get reinforced because they have opportunities to spend time with kids from the older grades. And they help the younger kids.
“They work at pretty much their own pace. Some need some special attention but most kids work at grade level or above. “
He adds, “Mrs. Schuffer provides a great education. She demands a lot of respect from the kids and they give it to her. I think it’s a special situation.”
Top of their class
Parents brag that the education the one-room school provides is the best in the district.
They say the Palomar school had the highest API (Academic Performance Index) of any of the school in the district. This is true. The school’s API for 2005 was 821. The next highest was Lilac School at 811.
The consensus is that once the school closes, it will never reopen.
Says Morrish, “My biggest feeling is if we don’t keep a traditional school it will never go back to it. We know enough about how schools function that when you lose one thing it won’t come back the same.”
“Every community needs a school. I feel if you close the school I don’t think it will ever be reopened,” says Baker.
“Once the students leave, Cal Tech would take the land back. Once that school goes away it would probably go away forever,” says Cunningham.
Health Issue
There is also a health issue for young children riding the bus up and down the 5,000 foot grade.
The change in altitude affects the inner ear, something that even adults notice.
“It’s a known fact that its hard on young children,” says Baker.
A one hour each way bus trip is also seen as taxing for the young children.
It Comes Down To Money
The parents say they are willing to find other funds to support the school, just as the community holds fund-raisers to support the volunteer fire department.
Parents told Dr. Obermeyer they thought they could raise $25,000 annually to help defray the costs of the school.
Cunningham notes that when he donated a crop of apples for the district that it raised $1200. “You start putting a few of those things together and $25,000 doesn’t seem that difficult to get.
“It all comes down to money,” says Cunningham. “Either the money has to be found in the system or it has to be found outside the system.”
Parents were miffed when they read that one of five questions on a survey circulated among some staff members is whether the school should be closed.
“Of course, we do not believe the future of our school should be determined by the personnel working in VC,” said Mrs. Phelps.
Of course, that’s likely to be the case in any event since it’s unheard of for the school board not to follow the recommendations of the school administration.
More Children in the Wings?
The decline in enrollment may be temporary.
The Christian Conference Center recently obtained a permit for double the current size of the camp. They will need extra staffing, and those staff members may likely have children.
Says Bonnie Phelps, who also serves on the committee, “We do have quite a few parents with young children looking forward to being a part of the excellent education that Palomar Mountain School has had the reputation for since the late 1800s.”
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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