Dual magnets offer a brighter future for our children

By: STEPHEN GUFFANTI - For the North County Times | Wednesday, January 19, 2005 10:16 PM PST ∞

Recently, two members of the Vista Unified School District Bond Oversight Committee and an heir apparent to the presidency of the teachers' union made it clear they disapprove of the dual magnet high schools approved by the voters. Instead, they want to build an oversized comprehensive high school, and they want the public to believe the price is $100 million and putting a local farmer out of business.

Unfortunately, the price is much greater. It will take six to eight years to build this school, with no guarantee that the district will have the funds to complete the project. (The bond plan originally budgeted $50 million for this project.)

I recommended a temporary school be opened in September 2002 on land we already owned. It would have provided immediate relief to overcrowding and an incubator site for our dual magnet high schools. Three members of the board rejected this proposal, two of whom have since been kicked out of office. Only David Hubbard managed to hold his seat, and he seems determined to disregard the will of the voters.

Each of VUSD's two main high schools is overcrowded by about 1,000 students. Those students have to push through clogged corridors to get to class, wait in long lines to use restrooms, and do battle to eat lunch within the allotted time. Short tempers and low morale mark the daily routine. It is the price of treating kids more like cattle than young adults. It is also accepting that only two of three will graduate, while one in three enters the adult world without a high school diploma. (Nationally, comprehensive high schools graduate about three-fourths of their students.)

The community pays profoundly for those who do not graduate. Most property crimes and violent gang crimes are committed by high school dropouts. For those who refrain from crime, the economic cost is $500,000 in lost income over the course of a lifetime.

Small magnet schools can turn this around and boost the graduation rate.

They can be started on land the district already owns. But these magnets require an incubator stage to develop their themes and resolve the challenges. This method of school development has been very successful in the past and it makes sense for the future.

Hubbard and his friends in the union and on the Bond Oversight Committee are willing for the community to pay the price. I believe that our children deserve a future of growing opportunity for all of them. Our community deserves the safety and peace of mind that come when our youth successfully engage in life's challenges.

Whichever side you take, remember the site on Melrose and Highway 76 is useful only as a comprehensive high school site. The lawsuits, the skyrocketing costs and the 2010 opening date are all part of the price for building a school that is not even among the bond projects. For those interested in serving children now, the board can still open the dual magnets in September, but it takes three votes to do so.

Stephen Guffanti is a member of the Vista Unified School District Board of Trustees.