Superintendent Dreier Writes a Letter

Parent and Silverado school supporter Jeff Wilson received the following letter yesterday:

Good Morning, Dr. Wilson:

On behalf of Dr. Dreier, the following letter is being forwarded to you:

May 7, 2009

Dr. Wilson:

With regard to your request to place an action item on the May 12th agenda regarding the closure of Silverado Elementary School, please be advised that this subject is governed by the provisions of Government Code 54954.3

“The agenda need not provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body on any item that has already been considered by a committee, composed exclusively of members of the legislative body, at a public meeting wherein all interested members of the public were afforded the opportunity to address the committee on the item, before or during the committee's consideration of the item…”

The Board of Education took formal action to close Silverado School at the March 12th meeting due to the impact of budgetary pressures on the District. After consultation with the Board President, it has been determined that your item request to reconsider the closure of Silverado Elementary School will not be placed on the May 12th agenda.

Sincerely,
Renae Dreier

Concerned parents and community members will be meeting Monday May 11 at 8 AM at Silverado Elementary School to discuss this and other matters. Please join us.
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Traffic Report and Analysis

With the assistance of the county transportation department and the Office of Supervisor Bill Campbell and the dedicated work of the usual suspects, the following report was complied and distributed this week to the OUSD Board of Trustees and Superintendent Drier. I've had to adapt it for blog posting as my limited computer skills don't allow me to post the tables of statistics.

Silverado Elementary School is located at 7531 Santiago Canyon Road, about a half-mile from the entrance to Silverado Canyon and about two miles from the entrance of Modjeska Canyon. Buses travel through Silverado, Williams and Modjeska canyons to pick up and drop off students each morning and afternoon. Roads in the canyons are narrow and winding, with low tree branches and other obstacles. Live Oak Canyon Road and Trabuco Road are included in this report because if Silverado Elementary closes, a number of families will use those roads to drive their children to Trabuco Elementary, a school with a similar teaching and administrative philosophy and similar in size to Silverado.



Orange County provided traffic counts for the years 2006, 2007, 2008 and January through March 2009. The figures indicate that Santiago Canyon is heavily traveled, carrying an average of 6,000 vehicles a day. In an average year, Santiago experiences 19 traffic accidents, with an average of 12 injuries and one fatality.

While Live Oak carries about half the number of vehicles per day as Santiago, it has almost twice as many accidents. The annual average is 38 accidents, with 21 injuries and three fatalities.

Silverado Canyon Road averages 6.7 accidents a year and the two Modjeska Roads (Modjeska Canyon and Modjeska Grade) average 1.3 accidents a year.

Buses will likely pick up children from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., then bring the kindergarten students home between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Other students will travel home from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. From 2006 through 2008, Santiago Canyon Road experienced 27 accidents during these hours. Live Oak Canyon Road had 31; Silverado had 8 and the two Modjeska Roads, three.



The statistics reveal that the canyon roads are dangerous to travel and the risk of collision increases with mileage gained on Santiago Canyon Road toward the city of Orange or Live Oak Road toward Trabuco Elementary School.

When road closures occur, as they often do along Santiago Canyon Road, at Jamboree or the 241, it creates a significant hardship for our parents who need to transport the children to and from downtown schools. When the road is closed parents and/or buses must go all the way south to Lake Forest to get on the 5 freeway or 241 toll road, then travel to Orange to deliver or pick up children. This commute takes an additional hour (and the tolls are expensive). It is a distance of approximately 25-30 miles each way. As many of the elementary school children also attend the Silverado Children's Center (25 ages K-6), they are currently safeguarded from this problem. Since they are in nurtured professional care until 6 pm, their parents delayed by emergencies as this one can arrive to pick them up safely regardless. They are not sitting at a city school awaiting someone to get them….whenever they get there.

We feel that the singular solution to these safety and welfare issues is to keep Silverado Elementary School open in its current location on Santiago Canyon Road, where it is more safely and easily accessed by those going to and from school from both Modjeska and Silverado Canyon directions.

In conclusion, we respectfully but urgently offer that this traffic report and analysis, combined with the negative community economic impact report we provided OUSD at the last meeting --- in addition to the ongoing effort to create an Environmental Science Education Curriculum plan for our school --- warrants not only your renewed attention but your support of Silverado Elementary, a California Distinguished School and an important and essential facility among OUSD schools.

Please consider writing additional letters to the OUSD board and the superintendent citing this critical information.

The next OUSD board meeting is Tuesday May 12.

Thanks!
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Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming!

Writing letters in order to communicate our needs and concerns as constituents - and to further inform our elected representatives and public education employees about critical issues - is an essential part of a vibrant democratic process.

We hope that you continue to be part of our efforts to defend the interests of our community and its children.

Our ongoing review of the county transportation department statistics has revealed that the OUSD-sanctioned option of busing students 1.5-2 hours daily into Orange puts them at risk. In addition, when road closures occur, as they often do along Santiago Canyon Road, at Jamboree or the 241, bussed students or parents who choose to transport their own children to school, will be forced to detour through Lake Forest, another additional commuting hour. We will publish our full report on this issue soon.
Please write another letter or email today.

Here's one that was sent yesterday to all the trustees and the superintendent:

Dear OUSD Board President, Members and Superintendent:

I am a parent of a first grader at Silverado, and have addressed the Board a few times in recent months. I am writing once again to ask you to please, please consider a revote on the closure of our school. We are working hard to do our part as engaged parents and community members, but need your support. Please do agendize our request for the next Board meeting. We are confident that another discussion --- this one surrounding the profoundly harmful impact on our community, problems of transportation safety, and the possibilities of our Environmental Science model --- will suggest another way of solving the problem, and of keeping open this singularly historic and vital community resource.

Respectfully,

Andrew Tonkovich
Parent, Silverado Elementary School

The next OUSD board meeting is Tuesday May 12.
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Community Mobilizes to Make O'Neill Elementary a Charter School

O'Neill Elementary School is slated for closure and concerned community members are beginning to get organized.

From the OC Register:

A group of parents seeking to prevent the permanent closure of O'Neill Elementary School this June is making one last effort to keep the beloved, 41-year-old campus open – imploring school officials to turn it into a charter school.

Saddleback Valley Unified School District trustees listened to nearly an hour of testimony Tuesday from parents and community members who urged the school board to reopen the Mission Viejo campus as an independent educational facility, free from many of the rules and funding constraints that limit traditional public schools.

"I know these are tough economic times, but brain power has to be kicked in," said Mission Viejo parent Bill Brennan, whose two kids went through O'Neill. "Do something good with this school. It's a great asset for the school district."

To read the rest, click here.

The Safety of Canyon Roads

The OUSD Board's decision to close of Silverado Elementary School will result in some students being bussed daily into Chapman Hills Elementary School in Orange (estimated 1.5-2 hours round trip) and other students traveling along Santiago Canyon Road and Live Oak Canyon to reach the closer school, Trabuco Elementary.

Both options present danger to the students.

There have been two fatal accidents on Live Oak Canyon Road in the last two weeks. According to a January 2009 OC Register article, since 2005, there have been 206 collisions with 164 injuries and seven fatalities along the same stretch of road - but of course, that was before the recent tragedies.

More information regarding the daily commute to Orange soon.

(Photo above from the Orange County Register.)

Silverado Children's Center in Peril

The April 16 Board Meeting

Last night, five community members spoke to the OUSD Board of Trustees on behalf of Silverado Elementary School and our community.

Silverado resident Jeff Wilson, parent of a first grader at the school, presented the following request:

Please consider this our formal request to add the following action item to the May 12 board meeting agenda: the reconsideration of the closure of Silverado Elementary School. Accompanying this request are several documents that contain both updated and new information regarding our school. We believe that this information sheds new light as regards the decision to close Silverado Elementary, and justifies revisiting the issue.

It has come to our attention that we may not have clarified certain elements of our proposal to set up an environmental Science and Technology Charter School on the Silverado Elementary campus. Specifically we did not clarify the negative economic impact that closing the school would have on the Canyon Community. Furthermore, several budget issues have changed for the better for next year. Plus, we have secured potential pledges for funds to assist the process of setting up the charter, dependant on the school remaining open. It has also come to our attention that state funding may be available for Necessary Small Schools, which perhaps has not been investigated by the District. Finally, it is important to realize that closing Silverado Elementary would result in the Canyon Community being the only community within the Orange Unified District that will not have an elementary school a few minutes away from students' homes. (See map provided.)


One more extremely important point must be mentioned. It is expected that anywhere from 25 to 50 students will either transfer to another district or receive home schooling if Silverado Elementary closes. Even the most conservative estimate of 25 students will result in a loss of ADA revenue of more than $137,000 for Orange Unified District. The projected amount saved by the district if Silverado is closed is approximately $199,000 for the year 2009/2010. However, this figure does not include the interdistrict transfers and home schooling losses. In fact, the true “savings” figure for the district if Silverado closes is somewhere between $62,000 and an actual loss of over $100,00. This alone makes the closure a poor decision.

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to review these documents.

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Thanks to all the folks who took time to attend the meeting. Please keep keep communicating to the board and local elected officials. Educate them on the impact this closure will have on our community. Use the information on the sidebar to help you direct your letters and emails.
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