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We received this email from Teri Weiler after the school board meeting...

"I just wanted to thank you again for posting the article. I wanted to let you know that the school board meeting to decide on this topic was tonight. The Chino Hills Mayor, Peter Rogers, spoke opposing the move. Also, Bill Kruger spoke opposing the move. I was so happy to have support from them. They both signed my petition and were so awesome. The school board members were all opposed to moving the school, but then they pulled the topic and decided they needed to research more. The next board meeting to tell us the outcome is on July 16th at 7:00. If you can do anything to get the word out, it would help me a lot. I turned in a petition that I had started on Tues. with over 500 signatures opposing the move, to the board members tonight when I spoke. The people in this community really pulled together. It made me so proud to live in Chino Hills."

GREAT JOB Teri! I'm sure there are a lot of very thankful people right now. Of course, I think we need to continue making people aware of the idea since a vote is still pending.

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School Board to vote on recommendations Thursday (tonight) at 7:00 PM at the District Service Center, Chino Valley Unified School District, 5130 Riverside Drive in Chino.

The Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) seems likely to vote this Thursday, June 18th, 2009, to move their Alternative Program schools from Ramona Avenue in Chino to Chino Hills at the old Los Serranos Elementary School location on Pipeline and Via Verde Avenues according to documents on the CVUSD web site and a presentation given at the Community Forum held Monday night. A document listing the pros and cons is on the CVUSD web site. The School Board Agenda for June 18 states

Some Chino Hills residents are concerned because this means that approximately 400 of the most troubled students in the District will be attending school in this residential area.

The two schools involved are the Chino Valley Learning Academy School located at 13453 Ramona Avenue and Buena Vista High School located at 13509 Ramona Avenue, both in Chino. The schools reported 32 and 360 students respectively in the 2007-2008 school year.

We received a call from Chino Hills resident, Teri Weiler, who was concerned that relocating the schools to a residential neighborhood could put children and homes at risk. She stated "Once they consolidate those schools in this residential neighborhood, they will be here for good. So now is the time for us to speak up about this." She pointed out that the existing location is a mixed commercial use area whereas the Los Serranos neighborhood is exclusively residential. She is concerned that many of these students may be involved with gangs or drug use. Mrs. Weiler contacted the City of Chino Hills and was told that the city has no jurisdiction over School Board actions.

"Why are they doing this so quickly? It looks suspicious when they do that. We need more information." said Mrs. Weiler.

There could be something to her concern. According to the School Accountability Report Cards that the school district is required to publish each year, the Chino Valley Learning Academy (CVLA) is...

"a Community Day School serving at-risk, expelled, probation-referred, SARB/SART, or DPSS referred students in grades 7th thru 12th. These students have been expelled or referred to CDS for many reasons, possession of a weapon or illegal substance are two examples of referrals. Students are referred to CVLA in the following order: 1) The student is expelled from his/her home school. 2) The Student is probation-referred. 3) The student is referred by a district-level referral process. The first priority for assignment to CVLA is given to expelled students."

Editors Notes on Acronyms: SART stands for School Attendance Review Team | SARB stands for School Attendance Review Board, the board dealing with truancy. | DPSS stands for Department of Public and Social Services | CDS stands for Community Day School.

The same report for Buena Vista High School states that the school is...

"the only credit recovery program for the Chino Valley Unified School District. Students who have reached the age of sixteen, may opt to voluntarily transfer here when they have fallen behind in their academic credits for graduation."

The document discussing recommendations for the School Board lists over fifteen "Pros" for relocating the schools to Chino Hills and only one "Con" as shown below...

Consolidation of Alternative Education Programs to Former Los Serranos Site

"Pros"

• Campus already set up well for this type of functionality
• Would be able to expand student capacity at Buena Vista (BV) and Chino Valley Learning Academy (CVLA)
• Current capacity not sufficient to house all students who qualify and need to attend
• Teacher credentialing - Independent Studies (IS)
• We will not be able to continue IS at school sites over time
• No Child Left Behind compliance
• Home-Based Independent Studies
• Students currently enrolled have no Physical Education facility which is required
• Opportunity Program
• Students need to be in a separate location
• Relocation of Junior High School campus would be more advantageous to students
• Chino Valley Learning Academy
• Students need to be in a separate location
• Relocation of campus would allow for stronger program
• Having a single site would improve supervision and oversight of all programs greater efficiency and enhanced services

The only "Con" listed was:

• Relocation Cost

Mrs. Weiler is asking parents and residents in the Los Serranos area to contact her and to let others in the area know what the school district is planning. She is organizing a neighborhood educational drive to make sure that residents in the area understand what is happening and she feels that much too little notice has been given about the plans.

She is also organizing a petition and planning to ask the school board to delay any decision until more people understand the issues involved. If you are interested in contacting Mrs. Weiler, please contact us and we will forward your information to her.

We have contacted the School District and are awaiting their comments which we will post here.

References:

Alternate Uses Document...

School Accountability Report Card for Chino Valley Learning Academy...

School Accountability Report Card for Buena Vista High School...

June 18, 2009 School Board Agenda...

Chino Unified had a male Buena Vista expellee stay home and babysit--but that's the local Chino Hills area (Los Serranos). The 'problem' students probably hang-out in Los Serranos anyway, since it is designated a gang hang out area that is free of police supervision, so relocating the Continuation High School to where the 'happenin' place is, is in the best interests of socializing the students and pleasing their parents, and a good trade-off for all concerned.

I don't think it's right to kick elementary school kids out saying we don't have money for you to be here, but now let's move high school kids in. Both schools have about the same enrollment. Also, there ARE homes on all four sides. There are homes that share a little chain link fence with the school. I understand all kids need a place to go to school. However, this is not the right spot.

Some good points parentofstudents. I'm a bit uncomfortable pitting our two towns against one another. But I will say that the people who live near Los Serranos have a right to understand and voice their objections to this and it seems as though the school district was ready to do this without any true input from the community. Their forum was nowhere near enough notice. We'll find out soon enough whether they voted for it or not. Thanks for your very valid comments.

I live very near the Buena Vista and Chino Valley Learning Academy. Yes, it is in a mixed use area, but it is surrounded by neighborhoods that also have children living in them. I have only rarely seen any of the students walking off campus, it seems that many of them are bussed. And I also wonder if Chino should be the only city in our two city school district that should house the less than fully desirable locations. We have the adult school that also serves many less than stellar high school students. We were the city that lost 2 schools, Chino Hills lost one (and the reason they lost that one is because they just got a brand new beautiful school a couple of years ago very close to Los Serranos). Los Serranos was just updated and I'm not surprised that the district would want to continue to use the facility as a school given all of the improvements that were just made there to make it state of the art. I would bet that a good share of the kids with problems come from Chino Hills, I doubt they all hail from Chino. Let's get over our attitudes about those from one city being more deserving than those from another. That kind of attitude will only keep our less than stellar students wondering how they will ever make it in a world that despises them for being less than stellar.

Good points Lantran312. I have the impression that the school board wants to make this decision this Thursday night at their board meeting. It seems to me that the one public forum they held was not enough for people in the Los Serranos neighborhood to really understand what is being proposed. Too little information is known about what the School Board wants to do.

Regardless, if people in Los Serranos care about this, they should probably show up on Thursday evening at the school board meeting on Riverside Avenue in Chino at 7:00 PM this week.

I live right behind the school. Moving the CVLA, Buena Vista and Independant Study to our elementary school is absolutely unacceptable. 1) It raises safety issues for the neighborhoods and their families on all 4 sides of the school. There is only a chainlink fence between the school and the backyards of at least 20 homes (including my own) 2) The facilities are not suited for teens and people over 4 foot tall. So saving money was not the reason for the school closure if money is being spent to move schools and revamp the school to accomodate high school students. So what is the amount of money which was saved from this school closure? The Chino School District should reconsider this ill thought out decision. We need to voice our strong opposition to CVLA