The San Benito County Grand Jury released its report for 2012-13 that included 11 reports on public agencies.
Each year, a civil grand jury is impaneled to make findings and recommendations for public agencies, based on investigations, collection and reviews of resources. The grand jury makes its recommendations, and the public entities are required to respond within 90 days.
This year, the grand jury examined the Hollister council’s agenda posting; the county’s budget process; the county’s lacking records retention policy; practices at Hazel Hawkins facilities; practices at jail facilities; and functions of the probation department.
This year’s grand jury included 18 residents, including foreman Arthur Bliss and foreman pro tem Linda Buckhout. Their 86-page report – partially comprised of responses from the 2011-12 year – includes background information on the issue, an explanation of the investigation, and general findings and recommendations.
Among the issues discussed in the report, grand jurors focused on the San Benito High School campus cafeteria – the district has plans to renovate the current 3,000-student campus instead of building a second school – and noted that it is far too small for the student population.
According to the grand jury report:
“The present cafeteria is too small for the number of students attending the school,” according to the report’s findings. “The capacity is 750 and there are approximately 2,850 students. All students have lunch hour at the same time. There are other locations to purchase food. They are next to the old gym and west of the new gym by the Ag department.”
It goes on to recommend that the district – among five recommendations on the high school alone – follow through on its master plan with the building of a student union and accompanying food court to accommodate the student population.
Read the full report by clicking on the link to the left.
