Here is a download of the Roseville Joint Union High School District presentation on October 14th.

6th high school WestPark NA Meeting 10-14 (3).pdf

KCRA 3 coverage video is here

On 10/15/2015, members of the Roseville Joint Unified High School District (RJUHSD) gave an hour-long presentation before an audience of over 200 people at the joint Annual Meeting and Elections for the WestPark and Fiddyment Farms Neighborhood Associations (NAs). Superintendent Ron Severson was accompanied by RJUHSD members Joe Landon, Shannon Blockton, and Suzanne Laughrea. [Also in attendance was Rob Hasty, principal of Oakmont High School.]

Ron Severson went through a slide show presentation (which will be posted on the RCONA, WestPark, and Fiddyment Farm websites). He indicated that three elementary school districts feed into the RJUHSD—Dry creek, City of Roseville, and Eureka elementary schools. He showed a general timeline related to the past planning of the new 6th High School—beginning in 2003 with the initial planning phase, April 2007 SFID Bond passage, 2008-2009 focus group and design phase. Then he referred to the recession and new construction slowdown—and plans basically stopped. In Nov. 2011 the school site land was purchased. In 2014, they decided to do a phased-in approach to building the campus, and expand more fully later. In 2015, they developed a steering committee [neither WestPark nor Fiddyment Farm NAs were contacted for membership], and they are now in the planning phase again of the new design for the campus.

It was indicated that the now proposed “1st phase” of the campus (a smaller version) would house 1000 – 1200 kids, and the campus could expand as it grows with portable buildings along the way. Mr. Severson indicated some modifications would need to be made to the plans as regulations change from year to year. The ‘plans’ will take one year to complete. He indicated as soon as they have funding measures in place they will go forward. The phase-1 campus is projected to house three classroom facilities. The facilities will be 3-stories tall because he stated the site is not really large enough for the school [which is the first time our residents have heard that mentioned]. Full infrastructure will be done during the 1st phase and costs are expended to be $100 Million for the 1st Phase. Eventually, the whole completed campus is projected to be $150 Million.

The 6th high School is projected to provide for 25,000 homes on the west area of Roseville and eventually provide for 2,500 students. [That projection is taking into consideration Placer Ranch, Amorosu Ranch, Creekview, and other plans still far from getting started.] He said only about 4,000 of those homes [only WestPark and Fiddyment Farm so far] have been built now, and that’s only 14% of the total area to be included in the school’s territory. He confirmed a recent statement that the school board felt the recent withdrawal of backing for the Placer Ranch project would cause further delays to getting the 6th high school built.

Joe Landon presented the next section related to future enrollment—demographics supposedly based on current enrollment, and stated basically that there wouldn’t really be enough to justify opening a new school until 2020 if the economy and sales continues to grow at its current rate.

Mr. Landon discussed 3 sources of financing:

• Matching funding by the state, originally a $50 Million fund, but he said our district would not be eligible for that because our district is not considered ‘full’.
  
• Developer fees—currently approximately $8,000 for every new home permit pulled [the Elementary School District also receives a similar lump sum per home].
  
• The third revenue source relates to local bonds: our homeowners pay three (3) elementary school bonds and five (5) or (6) high school bonds (depending on purchase date of home) going back to 1992 construction of Granite Bay and 2004 for Antelope High Schools. Bonds for $115 Million for the 6th High School were approved by special vote of 12 voters (development landowners, not any of our new homeowners) in April 2007.
  

He indicated $28.6 Million had been collected so far with distributions as follows:

SFID Bond= $4,637,442 for 53-acre school site acquisition - $8,502,447

WestPark/Fiddyment developer fees= $24,037,308 - $4,149.855 for design, architecture, legal environmental impact report, and other expenses. He indicated about $16 Million remains at this time for the high school.

Although he said the school district receives no Mello Roos funds from the City, Loren Cook later read the description from the CFD #3 (Mello Roos) that our homeowners pay. Besides special police and fire services (in addition to regular taxes collected through regular county taxes and Parks & Recreation services we are charged like any other resident), CFD #3 includes “Recreation program services, library services, maintenance services for elementary and secondary school sites and structures, …” The School Board members said they were not aware of this and would follow-up with the City of Roseville.

He then indicated it would take another 5,000 – 6,000 homes to be sold before they’d have the funds to build the school. That would be the equivalent of the whole West Roseville Specific Plan being completed before they’d be ready to build the school. Many of our residents expressed strong concern over this statement—it is obvious there was never any real possibility that the school could have been opened in 2013 as originally planned, and basically it was just propaganda to get homes sold and we’ve been greatly misled.

As previously stated in past meetings elsewhere, Mr. Landon said the school board will not consider redistricting until the 6th high school is ready. He said it’s very costly, can take over a year to plan, and moving students is only a temporary solution and wouldn’t get the school completed any faster, and they only intend to do it once when the new school is ready to open.

Ron Severson then attempted to address transportation concerns. He indicated the RJUHSD Board will meet in two weeks to consider eliminating and/or mitigating transportation charges (school bus fees) for the whole district. They will try to address other scheduling needs for improved bus routes and after school programs.

Mr. Severson said they will move forward to finish the school design; and work on program choices: music, athletics, computer sciences, etc. He apologized that the RJUHSD Board had not met with the neighborhood recently and wants to work with our NA Schools Committee members in future.

A session of public questions and comments followed the formal presentation. To the usual question of what is the best estimate of opening the school, he said in a perfect world it might break ground in 2018 and open in 2020. They may seek help from the state to make it happen sooner. Realtors stated that the high school is the number one concern of people considering to buy in the area and many sales are lost because of the misleading information given out about the opening of the school. Many people are relocating out of the area because of the education and transportation issues, although Mr. Severson tried to assure everyone of the good education available at Oakmont High School.

Overall, the public comments reflected the residents’ 10 years of frustration, of having to leave kids at bus stops at 6:00 AM, having to travel over 12 miles each way several times a day through the heart of the city (adding to traffic and pollution issues), of kids being away for over 12-14 hours of the day trying to get an education. Other than the news about the possible elimination of school bus fees, residents didn’t really feel they had heard anything promising that we’d get the school any time sooner than 2020 if even then.