Community Meetings on Alameda Unified School District High Schools Begin

Information submitted by Alameda Unified School District:

Would Alameda teens be better served with one comprehensive high school? Or would it be better to modernize Encinal High School (EHS) and Alameda High School (AHS) and continue to operate them separately?

These questions are the topic of a series of community meetings on the future of AUSD’s comprehensive high schools to be held over the next month. The first meeting is tonight at 7 pm at Wood Middle School.

The idea for these conversations came up during Board of Education discussions last spring on how best to use funds from an upcoming facilities bond. (That bond, Measure I, passed in November, 2014.) The original idea was to prioritize renovating AUSD’s high schools in the first phase of the bond program. But community members asked for a discussion of combining EHS and AHS on a new campus before finalizing plans to modernize them separately.

The ensuing bond plan scheduled renovations to elementary, middle, and charter schools in the first phase of bond funding. Decisions on the high schools, the board decided, should be delayed until after community discussions about the best configuration for those schools.

High School Meetings Schedule

The January 29 and February 5 community meetings are designed to share data, answer questions, and gather feedback from the public on the ideas of building one new high school or renovating the existing two. The Board of Education will have a study session (also public) on February 17. The board will hear and vote on staff’s recommendation for the high schools at its regular public meeting February 24.

Resources and Background

Looking for more information?

· You can find details on the upcoming meetings (as well as supporting documents for and video of the meetings) here.

· The original plans for renovating the separate high schools were presented and discussed at a board meeting on May 10, 2014. At that meeting, several commenters asked for a discussion of building one new high school. You can see documents for and video of that meeting here (go to agenda items D1 and D2).

· The Facilities Master Plan provides still more detail on how Encinal High School and Alameda High School could be renovated if the Board of Education votes to maintain two separate comprehensive high schools. You can find links to those sections of the Facilities Master Plan here.

· The idea of one versus two high schools was also discussed at the June 10 Board of Education meeting. You can see documents for and video of that meeting here (go to agenda item F1).

· District staff presented a PowerPoint on the community meetings on January 13, 2015. That presentation includes a summary of current research on the benefits and drawbacks of large and small high schools. That PowerPoint (as well as video of the presentation) is here.

“This topic has come up in the community periodically over the decades,” says Interim Superintendent Sean McPhetridge, Ed.D. “I am looking forward to learning more about the options and hearing our community members’ thoughts on the best path forward at this year’s meetings.”

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings

Regular Board Meetings

February 10, 2015

City Hall, 6:30 PM

February 24, 2015

City Hall, 6:30 pm

Special Board Meetings

February 3, 2015 (interview and appointment of new board member)

Island High School (500 Pacific Avenue)

6:00 pm

February 17, 2015 (board study session on high schools)

Alameda High School (2200 Central Avenue)

6:30 pm

Photo via Shutterstock

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