When Lori Miranda wakes up her 7-year old daughter for school, there’s already a line of red brake lights glowing from Castroville Elementary School. Miranda lives across the street and says though classes start at 8am, parents drive their children to school as early as 6:30am in the morning. School buses begin their commute as early as 6:15am to arrive before school starts.
“Parents in ag jobs have to wake up early,” Miranda says, “and so do their kids, because who’s going to drive them them?” These are the realities of living and going to school in North Monterey County Unified School District, which is strapped for cash in many areas – including transportation. It means fewer buses, longer routes and earlier pickup.
Some other realities that NMCUSD parent Miranda can’t ignore: 1,100 more students than planned seated in limited classroom space, about 50 portable classrooms that are aging out and two shuttered schools.
The school board had hoped the solution would be measures E and F, $36 million and $40 million bonds that appeared on the Nov. 7 ballot. The money would have gone toward a checklist of improvements including revamping portables and replacing inefficient heating and gas systems. There’s also the need to refurbish and reopen two closed schools: Moss Landing and Gambetta middle schools, with Gambetta reopening as a elementary school.
Both bonds failed by a margin of 44-55. “We were disappointed,” NMCUSD Superintendent Kari Yeater says. “We really thought our community wanted this.”
In 2008, the district’s projected 2016-17 enrollment was 3,900 students. They now have about 5,000 students – and two fewer schools. “We have a laundry list of projects and we have to address them somehow,” Yeater says.
Without the bond money, NMCUSD board member Martha Chavarria says the board will have to “get creative.” Her top priorities include replacing the heating system in Castroville Elementary School, an estimated $2.2 million project.
On other projects, the district could consider temporary solutions like teachers sharing classrooms while one teaches and another preps. After-school programs or even regularly scheduled classes could move to the school’s own libraries. (Floating the bonds again in 2018 is not currently on the list of potential fixes.)
“Whatever we do, we’re going to make tough decisions,” Chavarria says.