The purpose of this page is to prove the status and progress of our new high school.
- The following is a September 4, 2012 Unification Update:
"This is a quick update on where we stand on the unification effort and what needs to be done going forward. The unification group has been meeting every other Tuesday under the AHSCC umbrella..." MORE
- The following is a recent e-mail (August 2012) summarizing our current efforts:
"Greetings everyone. It’s been a long time and I hope everyone is
enjoying their summer. First, a shout out to Bill Weaver who’s
celebrating his birthday today. Happy birthday Bill and many more!!! Things are beginning to happen and I wanted to bring our core group of
leaders on the high school matter up to speed. At the outset,..." MORE Projects
UNIFICATION
We will proceed with a drive to unify Alpine into a
K-12 school district. The unification effort has already begun with Al
Haven’s kickoff meeting last week. The object through unification is to
seek Alpine’s share of GUHSD’s assets (approximately $80- $120M) and use
those assets to construct the high school which will then be
exclusively under the control of the unified district. Given the
enormous weight of the facts on our side we believe the unification
effort will succeed, the only question being how long the process will
take.
Why Alpine Needs a Unified School District
For more than a decade the students, parents, teachers and taxpayers of Alpine have been promised a high school by the Grossmont Union High School District. With political and financial help from our community, Grossmont succeeded in passing two bond propositions that contained explicit commitments to build a 12th comprehensive high school to serve the “Alpine and Blossom Valley” communities.
On numerous occasions, members of the Grossmont Board literally promised that the school would be built and went so far as to approve the acquisition of the 90+acre Lazy A site in eastern Alpine for the school site. Grossmont proceeded to spend close to $20 Million of bond funds to acquire the site (including condemnation of homes on the site), obtain permits and approvals for construction, and develop detailed design and architectural plans for the school.
Despite these commitments and expenditures of your tax dollars, in 2011 a majority of the Grossmont Board passed a resolution that indefinitely suspended school construction. In the meantime, the Board approved spending hundreds of millions of bond funds on numerous other projects, including some ‘pork barrel” projects that were never contemplated or specified in the bond propositions. It is now clear to all that the current Board majority has no intention of ever building a high school in Alpine. To rectify this injustice and the misappropriation of our tax dollars, the citizens of Alpine have turned their efforts toward unifying our school district.
Why unify? Unification is the process by which an elementary (k-8) or “union” school district such as Alpine becomes a unified (k-12) school district. If successful, unification effectively means that Alpine will secede from Grossmont and take over the responsibility of providing a high school education to our children. The unification process is complicated but a simple analogy is that it is similar to a divorce. Much like a divorce, Alpine would be entitled to its share of Grossmont’s assets in proportion to our community’s tax base and/or population. The amount of that share will be the subject of debate and negotiation but we believe that Alpine’s share of Grosmont’s assets will be sufficient to construct our high school.
The unification effort has begun with a petition process. We need to obtain the signatures of at least 25% of the registered voters of Alpine and we need your help to get that goal accomplished as quickly as possible. Once the petition process is complete then the county and state are obligated to move for with our request for unification. So PLEASE volunteer your time and help the Alpine Unification Committee achieve this first major step toward getting our long awaited high school. To volunteer or get more information - CLICK HERE.
For FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions - CLICK HERE.
CHARTER
Creation of a Local Charter HS – We will proceed with seeking both
a site and charter sponsor for creating a quality local charter high
school. While unification is a longer term effort that seeks capital
dollars and secession from Grossmont, creation of a charter can be
established relatively quickly without State, County, or Grossmont
approval. In addition to local control, it’s chief strategic appeal is
that it would draw students and their ADA dollars away from Grossmont
which will hit them where it hurts the most – their operating budget.
The plan would entail opening the charter no later than fall of 2013.
GUHSD Board Election
Replacing Board member Woods and re-electing Priscilla Schreiber –
We will proceed with trying to find the best candidate to run against
Gary Woods and to support that candidate financially and at a grass
roots level. Woods is the weak link in the majority and is widely
recognized as a Kelly puppet. He’s antagonized voters beyond Alpine with
his participation in the Helix charter fiasco and his role as the front
man for upending the Boundary Committee report with the gerrymander of
school boundaries. A concerted effort to throw him out office and also
re-elect Priscilla Schreiber would return a favorable majority to the
Board. To succeed, this effort will require (a) finding a solid
candidate who can be relied on to support the 12th high school and (b)
money to support the campaign of the candidate and Priscilla. Additional information and Links
Resolution for Unification of Alpine
This is the approved Resolution for the unification of Alpine. The Resolution is being distributed to groups, organizations, businesses, tribes, etc for their consideration, endorsement and support. CLICK HERE.
Bonsall School District Unification
Bonsall is a District in the final stages of their unification effort. For detailed information on their status CLICK HERE.
Wiseburn School District Unification
The Wiseburn School District in Hawthorne California, is in the process of Unification. The following link will take you to their Facebook page - CLICK HERE.
Unification Process
The unification process is neither fast nor easy. The following graph should give you some idea of the complexities. CLICK HERE.
Alpine High School Presentation
This presentation was made by Grossmont Union High School District May 13, 2010. CLICK HERE.
Unification Petition
This is the petition needed to be signed. We require a minimum of 2,500 registered voters from the Alpine area. CLICK HERE.
The is a link to Tips for Petition Volunteers - CLICK HERE.
Articles
2012-09-04 - Divorcing Grossmont - CLICK HERE
Meeting Minutes
2012-08-21 - Meeting Minutes - CLICK HERE
2012-07-11 - Organizational Meeting Minutes - CLICK HERE.
