Letter from Delain Eastin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction to Sandra Nichols revealing suitability of the high school site as proposed.
DELAINE EASTIN
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
May 1, 2000

Ms. Sandra Nichols, MA, CCC
686 Larkin Valley Road
Watsonville, CA 95076

Dear Ms. Nichols:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin has asked me to respond on her behalf to your letter regarding your concerns about the safety of school sites for our students. The California Department of Education (CDE) shares your concerns.

In terms of the proposed high school within the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, we have had several conversations with the local Coastal Commission, the State Coastal Commission, the Division of Aeronautics and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.

It is our understanding that the State Coastal Commission voted 9 to I to approve the site and has agreed to work with the school district to address concerns raised by the local Coastal Commission. Based on their discussions, if the site were to be situated in a portion of the property that was not approved by the Division of Aeronautics, the district would submit a formal request for CDE re-approval of a site considering airport safety and noise evaluation for the portion of the project in question.

We are aware that the identification of a site for this school has been very sensitive and controversial in your area. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to select a school site upon which everyone in the local community agrees. The district has worked with CDE over several years and has considered alternative sites for a high school. Based on the information provided to our office from the school district with extensive review of that information by the appropriate state and local agencies, the site is approvable for school purposes.

Thank you for your expressing your concerns. It is unfortunate that these situations cannot always be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. If you have further questions, please contact John Dominquez, Field Representative, in the School Facilities Planning Division at (916) 323-0575.

Sincerely,

DELAINE EASTIN
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

original signed by

Susan Lange, Deputy Superintend
Finance, Technology and Administration Branch
SL:jdp