San Benito High School Superintendent Dr. Jean Burns Slater
urged high school board members to approach the idea of unification
with the Hollister School District cautiously during a board
meeting Wednesday night.
Hollister – San Benito High School Superintendent Dr. Jean Burns Slater urged high school board members to approach the idea of unification with the Hollister School District cautiously during a board meeting Wednesday night.
The San Benito High School board of trustees received information about the possibility of such a move, which the superintendent, Burns Slater, will present at a superintendents’ meeting today.
“This district is fiscally sound and if we are going to look into unifying with a district that is facing fiscal problems, we need to do so very carefully,” Burns Slater said. Trustees did not comment on the matter at Wednesday’s meeting.
The proposal was first brought up at a HSD meeting Dec. 15 by teachers who suggested the move would save their district money by eliminating unnecessary administrative costs by fusing two administrations into one. So far, Burns Slater has not expressed any opinion about it, but she has said the decision would not necessarily be up to the high school to make.
Unification is a complex process which could take up to five years and would ultimately have to be approved by the state department of education. But it does not have to have the approval of both districts and would be decided by voters residing in the two districts.
A board member has been selected to represent the district in the County Reunification Committee, which after a couple of years of slumber is being revived again at the County Office of Education.
Shelley Donati, a San Benito High School board trustee, said that this was the time for the district to study the issue, which has never been unified in its entire history.
“It’s way too early to take a position,” said Donati. “A lot of research has to be done because this would have a huge impact on everyone.”
Hollister School District, for its part, is also researching unification and its board members are expected to mention it at the Jan. 25 meeting. But unification would not rescue the district from its budget woes – it is facing a $800,000 deficit this fiscal year and an estimated $360,000 the following year – because the process is so lengthy.
“We are looking at at least four to five years before this happens,” said Dee Brown, a Hollister School District trustee.
The last time unification was successfully done in San Benito County was when Aromas School merged with Anzar High in 1989.
Several criteria apply to district reorganization which spell out what can and cannot happen in any district reorganization. The move cannot cause an adverse fiscal effect on either district, cannot promote racial and ethnic discrimination and cannot be done with the intention of raising property values, among other restrictions.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
