LUSD board discusses Joe Serna Jr. school’s move

After a lengthy discussion during Tuesday night’s meeting, the Lodi Unified School District Board of Education directed the district to look into moving Joe Serna, Jr. Charter School from its current location in Lodi to share Houston Elementary School’s campus in Acampo in the 2019-20 school year.

Superintendent Cathy NicholsWasher began by explaining that the board would not vote on anything that night, but that they would instruct the district to bring the potential relocation for a vote in the future.

“This isn’t a program conversation, this is a list of facility issues facing each school. What I want the

public to know is that no matter what is decided, we want the outcome to be as positive as possible for all students,” Nichols-Washer said.

Nichols-Washer added that the district held meetings with parents from both Houston and Serna parents in recent months to hear their concerns, before turning the presentation over to Leonard Kahn, the district’s chief business officer.

Kahn presented three options for relocating Serna, which currently houses its kindergarten class in the basement due to inadequate facilities. He included cost estimates for each option, explaining that the exact numbers have not yet been finalized.

“These are not hard-bid numbers, these are reasonable estimates and we stand by them,” Kahn said.

Moving Serna to Houston’s campus would cost approximately $2,043,550, Kahn said, while moving Serna to the Extension Road campus that houses Henderson and Independence schools would cost approximately $5,338,300.

“Perhaps most expensive is the option of keeping Serna at its current site. In order to expand its capacity and improve facilities, we’ve compiled a laundry list of over $17.3 million. Of all the dollar amounts presented, there is no budget currently, so funds would have to be drawn from somewhere else,” Kahn said.

Lisa Graci spoke on behalf of her fellow Houston parents who opposed the proposal for Serna to share Houston’s campus, fearing that Serna students who she said might take over the campus.

“We are still against Serna and Houston sharing a campus, we’re going to lose our down-home country school. We’re worried that we’ll be pushed out by Serna, that they would take over our campus because they outnumber us,” Graci said.

Joey Paglierani, a Serna parent, voiced his support for the proposed move, saying that more students at Houston would bring in more money to improve the school’s septic tanks, flood control and safety.

“We parents of the Serna program are ready to move for the 2019-20 school year. Students, staff and parents of Serna are ready to work with Houston to facilitate the move,” Paglierani said.

Board member Bonnie Cassel also supported the move, recalling the closures of Clements School and Tokay Colony in the past. Houston is in danger of closing due to its low enrollment, she said, something which she hopes to prevent.

“I do not want to close another country school, and I definitely don’t want to close Houston, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify keeping Houston open because enrollment keeps dropping. I see this as a win-win. I see really good kids at Serna and really good kids at Houston. In my mind, you couldn’t find a better population of students and I know they’ll be compatible,” Cassel said.

George Neely, the board’s president, also supported the move, saying that more students at Houston would not only prevent the school from closing, but also increase the number of services that the district can provide to the rural school.

“If this is the direction the board decides to go in, we’ve got to have a lot of parent meetings at both locations, there’s got to be a lot of interaction. If we’re going to do this, I want to make sure that Houston gets as much out of this as absolutely possible. I really believe the move of Serna to Houston is going to benefit both schools,” Neely said.

Dawn Vetica, assistant superintendent of secondary education, along with Lodi High School Principal Bob Lofsted, then gave an update on Lodi High’s sideline cheer program, which was previously in danger of being canceled due to a $7,890 debt from the 2016-17 school year.

Sideline cheer, which performs in the fall, will continue as-is during the 2018-19 school year, Vetica said, although Lodi High will still explore adding competition sport cheer, a spring sport.

“The (cheer) parents formed a booster club and all of the money has been returned to the school. They will still investigate sports cheer, but they will still have sideline cheer,” Vetica said.

“The crisis was building for some time and it hit its breaking point, but they’re going to show us this next school year that they can incur those expenses while staying financially solvent,” Lofsted said.