The school board has begun reviewing its facilities with an eye towards the future.
Although the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District is currently losing students, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to keep up the facilities that it has, even if it doesn’t need to build new ones.
It is, however, considering closing one facility: Palomar Mountain School.
At the November meeting the board was given a draft of a Long-Range Facilities Master Plan. Board members will be reviewing the plan during the holidays and the Christmas break and will have a special meeting to discuss the document.
NOTE: We will post a copy of the draft report on our Web site: www.valleycenter.com/
The district’s longtime architectural consultant, Davy Architecture prepared a document that identifies immediate needs, intermediate needs, long-term needs and a wish list for each of the district’s 11 campuses.
These include: Independent Study Center, Palomar Mountain School, Elementary Upper School, District Offices and Maintenance Facilities, Pauma School, Elementary Lower School, Primary School, Middle School, High School, Oak Glen High School and Lilac School.
The most immediate needs for the individual campuses are listed as follows:
• Independent Study Center—Relocate with other educational services
• Palomar Mountain School— Assess feasibility of continued operation
• Elementary Upper School— Playfield renovation, additional P.E. equipment (circuit course)
• District Offices and Maintenance Facilities— Install insulation at maintenance office ceilings
• Pauma School—Repair / replace wood canopy over walkway between buildings A&B
• Elementary Lower School— Electronic marquee, playfield renovation, additional P.E. equipment (circuit course)
• Primary School—Additional perimeter fencing at entrance
• Middle School—Additional greenhouse for Ag (career path)
• High School—Artificial track and turf at varsity football field, additional play fields (on adjacent property-current Indepen-dent Study Center site), 10 tennis courts and 10 ball wall racquetball courts (adjacent property—current Independent Study Center site), relocate maintenance out of room 807.
• Oak Glen High School—Relocate Adult Ed with other educational services, fence along Oak Glen Road (for security / ball play), shade shelter (4-5 tables) in back near grassy area, additional P.E. space, fields, handball court.
• Lilac School— Additional P.E. equip0ment (circuit course).
The County Dept. of Planning & Land Use has changed the name of General Plan 2020, reassigned 11 of the 15 people originally assigned to complete it and will work with a private firm to finish the job.
It will now be called the General Plan Update.
GP 2020, which is updating land use designations, density and zoning, has been in the works for over a decade, since 1997.
VC planners Keith Simpson, Andy Washburn, Lael Montgomery and Oliver Smith recently attended a County workshop on the process and gave a report at the November meeting of the planning group.
They reported that County staffer assigned to be in charge of the project, Devon Muto, will be working with a private contractor, Pacific Municipal Consultants, to finish the work. The target date for completion is 2010.
The new interim director of DPLU Interim Director Eric Gibson has said his goal was to present the update to the Board of Supervisors for final approval in three years.
Over the past several years, after probably a hundred community meetings, subcommittee meetings, and workshops, and the involvement of many citizens, the VC community has completed:
• Land Use Designation Map
• Circulation Element (map)
• Almost—complete draft Community Plan text.
Bob Citrano, Valley Center’s designated DPLU planner, has told the group that it will soon start work to complete the Community Plan text.
The new hybrid map they will be developing and evaluating will consist of the “worst case” of all of the current and new maps (i.e. only the highest density options considered).
IN OTHER BUSINESS planner Terry Van Koughnett reported that the people in escrow on the land on the southeast corner of Valley Center Road and Woods Valley Road want to make a presentation at the December meeting on their plans to built a Rite Aid drug store.
The December meeting will also have an update by Bob Citrano of DPLU on southern village circulation.
The Valley Center Community Church wants to provide an update at December's meeting on what's happening with their project.
What Valley Center or Pauma resident made the most impact in the news in 2007? Who was the greatest force for good in our community?
We want your nominations!
Think of this person as being the local equivalent of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
You have the chance to put in your two cents’ worth with the third annual Newsmaker of the Year.
It will honor the person who has been in the news most frequently, had the greatest impact or done something of great benefit to the community during the year.
Who might this person be?
Our first recipients in 2004 were four VC fire relief “angels,” Terry & Mimi Van Koughnett, Michelle Schied, and Dianne Conaway.
The second recipient for 2005 was head coach Rob Gilster, who that year led the Valley Center High School football team to win the CIF Division IV champion title for the second year in a row.
Last year’s Newsmaker of the Year was school Supt. Lou Obermeyer.
The Newsmaker of the Year award is not an award for merit, so much as it is an award, like Time’s Person of the Year used to be, that recognizes the most newsworthy person.
The person could be someone who has put in many hours helping fire survivors. It could be a community activist. It might be someone who performed a selfless act that helped many people. It could be someone who was a hero, someone who is a public official, or even a candidate for public office.
The possibilities are wide. The only restriction is that this person needs to have taken his or her actions during 2007.
There is no prize money, or even a physical award of any kind associated with this recognition. It is a metaphorical laurel leaf.
We invite nominations for this award. We will make the final determination from the nominees received. So please feel free to write an essay as to why this person should be given the award. Deadline is Dec. 31, 2007.
Drop nominations off at The Roadrunner office, or mail them to POB 1529, Valley Center CA 92082, or email them to editor@valleycenter.com/
The Roadrunner office is starting to fill up with gifts for children who won’t have a Merry Christmas unless we help them a little.
There’s still time for you to help decorate the Giving Tree, which has been set up in our office.
Help us bring some holiday cheer into the lives of the about 191 students impacted by the recent wildfires.
The school district has provided us with the ages of boys and girls who could really use some Holiday Cheer. Many of them were impacted by the Poomacha Fire.
Hometown residents are welcome to assist by stopping by to get information to buy a holiday gift for one of the children.
When we did this after the fires in 2003, there were two ladies who, in addition, brought bags of stuffed animals.
We wish we could have shared with everyone the joy in the eyes of the small children who came in and not only got a Christmas present but also got to pick a stuffed animal from the large pile.
If anyone wants to add a stuffed animal to a present or just bring by a stuffed animal or two, the cuddly animals certainly add joy to each present.
We need all gifts wrapped (except stuffed animals) and returned before Dec. 7 so we can ensure they are delivered before Christmas. Call The Roadrunner at 749-1112 with any questions.
As of Monday the body found last week in a ravine on Anthony Road had not been identified by the authorities.
“We don’t believe that it was foul play,” homicide detective Lt. Dennis Brugos of the Sheriff’s Dept. told The Roadrunner.
Because foul play is not suspected the identification of the body has been handed over to the County Medical Examiner’s office. They are working to identify the body by dental records.
The body had been in the ravine for several months, judging by the state of decomposition, said Brugos.
The ravine is near a residence in the 29000 block of Anthony Road in Valley Center.
Sheriff’s personnel from the Valley Center Station, Homicide Detail and Crime Lab responded to the scene on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
Once it was confirmed that the remains were, in fact, human, volunteers with the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit went to the scene, where they conducted a search for the rest of the body. This afternoon, searchers discovered what they believe to be the body of an adult male in a ravine approximately 200 yards from the initial discovery.
Mike Lawton, president of the VC Lions presents checks to the winners of the Safer Driving Contest. Bryan Bahlmann received $500 for first place and Rachel Salazar $200 for next best. Salazar's entry was “Use Your Brain Stay in Your Lane.” Bahlmann’s entry was "Don't be a Double Crosser.” The bumper stickers can be found at various locations in VC.
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
Copyright © 2007, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.