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Families from two Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District campuses flooded the Board of Education meeting last week to express concern regarding their children’s well-being.
At the forefront of public discussion May 20 were the reportedly degrading conditions at Junction Avenue TK-8 School as well as the district’s decision to move a special education class from Joe Michell TK-8 School to Christensen Middle School.
According to families, the issues at Junction included a lack of maintenance to bathrooms and drinking fountains as well as water stains on ceiling panels that parents said may signal a mold problem. Almost all of these issues have been addressed since a report from parents was submitted the prior week, LVJUSD director of maintenance, operations and facilities Glenn Sherman said at the meeting.
Since May 20, Superintendent Torie Gibson has met with Junction parents and administration to address their concerns, according to district spokesperson Michelle Dawson.
“The water tastes like spoiled pickles”, Junction fourth-grader Shawn Megofna II said of the drinking fountains at Junction. “The bathrooms at my school are in very poor condition and I do not feel comfortable using them during the school day.”
“We spend a lot of our day at school and should be able to use the bathrooms and drink clean water without any hesitation,” Megofna added.
On May 13, Junction parents sent a letter with 148 community signatures to trustees and district officials, expressing concern for the conditions at Junction. Accompanying the letter was a report by parents showing the “neglected and unsafe conditions of the campus,” as stated in the report.
Since Junction’s founding in 1951, the school has never undergone the major modernizations seen at other sites in the district, parents wrote in the letter.
Being a diverse campus and having a dual immersion program “should be cause for support from the district but instead we get ignored”, parents wrote.
“It hurts me that my daughter at Junction doesn’t share the same experience as her sisters” attending other LVJUSD schools, parent Josefina Toledo said during a Spanish-to-English translation at the meeting. “I would love for her to also be able to say nice things about her school.”
While parents were glad to see some recent campus upgrades — including a new HVAC system, fire protection system updates, roofing repairs, a new marquee, library improvements, gas line upgrades and the addition of overhead projectors in every classroom — there is more to do, the letter states.
“These efforts, though appreciated, have mostly addressed individual systems or surface-level needs,” parents wrote in the letter. “The building and its campus remains outdated, with underlying issues that have not been properly addressed.”
Of the approximately six families that spoke about Junction, all attested to the school’s need for service.
“We’re just asking for the things that every other school has and we just want it to be equitable amongst the district, no matter where we live or who goes to our school”, said PTA Board President at Junction Jen Valley at the meeting.
The status of the restrooms is enough to make students avoid them throughout the day, parents and students said.
As for the strange smell and taste of drinking water Megofna reported, Sherman said he was not aware of such an issue. But the school’s drinking water has undergone testing with a focus on lead testing.
While the school’s custodial staff is responsible for cleaning drinking fountains, Sherman said, “I was really embarrassed at how those looked.”
After receiving the parent’s report, 13 work orders were created, Sherman explained. Nearly all the concerns have been addressed, but this is not how the process should go, he said.
“We’re relying on them to pass the information to us, through the work order system so that we can get over there and get things fixed,” Sherman said. “If we know about it, we’re going to get over there and do our best to fix it.”
Staff should contact site admin or Sherman himself when they observe a service issue, he recommended.
Looking toward the future of Junction, Gibson said bathrooms and classroom modernization must be prioritized.
While neither of the district’s most recent bond plans came to fruition, they both lacked full renovations to the school, Gibson said. Instead, the plan was to build a $70 million building to replace portables.
“When you have a school that has the conditions of Junction” it is more cost-effective to look at modernization of classrooms, buildings including bathrooms, office spaces and parking, Gibson explained.
Following the board meeting, Gibson held a “positive and productive” gathering with Junction parents and administration to discuss their concerns, according to Dawson. A full-site visit is scheduled June 9, wherein Gibson, members of the maintenance department, site administration and parents are set to create a list of projects to address over the summer.
Additionally, district and site staff have reexamined the work order process to ensure that there is a clear understanding of how maintenance requests are addressed and prioritized.
“We look forward to addressing the immediate needs on campus while also gathering Junction community feedback on their prioritization of more long term projects,” Dawson said.
Gibson intends to give an update on Junction at the next board meeting.
During the meeting May 20, parents of Joe Michell students also asked the district to maintain the “moderate” Special Day Class at their school next year.
Currently, there is one elementary-level SDC for “moderate” students at Joe Michell and two middle school-level SDC for “moderate” students split between Joe Michell and William Mendenhall Middle School, Assistant Superintendent of special education Kelly Manke said at the board’s May 6 meeting.
Amid growth at the elementary-level for “moderate” students as well as Joe Michell’s introduction of two TK classes, the district’s plan is to move the middle school “moderate” class from Joe Michell to Christensen next year, Manke said May 6.
To all three parents commenting on the relocation, the change would be detrimental to their children in the SDC at Joe Michell.
“Our students thrive on routine and familiarity,” said Candace Molano, parent of a student in the class set for relocation. “They are sensitive to change and a transition of this magnitude has the potential to shatter their learning trajectory, undoing years of tireless effort and remarkable progress.”
Following at least one complaint submitted to the district and the state of California regarding the relocation, parents including Dorothy Tebbetts argued for their children’s right to “stay put” at their current placement until due process hearings are complete.
“This is not a minor oversight. It’s a direct breach of our students’ fundamental right to a free, appropriate, public education,” Molano said.
When asked about alternatives to relocating the special education class, Gibson offered to discuss the possibility of moving another group of students.
