The controversies keep piling up at Carmel High
Local citizens are concerned about the environmental impact of lights at Carmel High School stadium, arguing they will create pollution with more evening events occurring at the school.
Carmel Municipal code has laws in place to allow for clear, unpolluted night skies. Some feel 80-foot LED lights violate this rule and the local environmental preservation movement.
Carmel residents also worry that the dearth of onsite parking surrounding the 22-acre campus will create hazardous egress and ingress issues and evacuation problems. A safety route was not included in the Environmental Impact Report, nor was recognition of the current traffic challenges.
“This project is likely going to create substantial pollution from the increased lights, traffic and noise, as well as disturb peaceful and quiet nights Carmel is used to and known for,” California lawyer Tiffany Scarborough explained.
One convenient option sits just a mile east. At 62 acres, Carmel Middle School has three times more space than the high school campus. Its original intent was to become a senior high school, due to its land and ample parking. Many feel CMS, therefore, provides an ideal opportunity to create a safer, environmentally-sensitive sports venue that contains light and noise pollution. The football field has operated without lights for the past 80 years.
When I sat down with Carmel Superintendent Ted Knight last month, he claimed the middle school was “never a viable option” and referenced a poll conducted on a bond issue he said was overwhelmingly opposed to the location, due to an exorbitant $70 million price tag. I was unable to find this poll, despite requesting it several times.
Knight also was defiant, arguing that light opposition is shrinking.
Light advocates often label opponents as NIMBY, but homeowners' higher housing prices enable the school district to reap that tax revenue and thereby opt out of traditional school funding.
“Public safety is the utmost concern when CUSD draws thousands of evening visitors to an already crowded and overbuilt high school campus,” a longtime Carmel resident who wished to remain anonymous told me. “When the community asked for transparency on the current emergency access routes, we were told the Emergency Access Routes were proprietary, not available for digital distribution and could only be viewed under appointment. This should strike fear in every parent and community member.”
Knight is now dealing with additional controversies within the district.
In early February, the Carmel School board unanimously voted to remove Jon Lyons as principal of CHS. Lyons had been on leave since Dec. 16 over allegations he ignored bullying and sexual harassment in the district. Lyons had no opportunity to confront the allegations, and in late February officially requested the district's School Board reconsider their decision.
School Board President Tess Arthur then shockingly announced her resignation at a
February board meeting, as the fallout from Lyons' termination continued. The school board elected Sara Hinds as its new president during their March 8 meeting. Meanwhile, as ancillary issues pile up, when Gov. Gavin Newsom mandated late start times for the 2022-2023 school year, all Monterey Peninsula districts implemented the change, except Carmel, as the district was exempted via a “rural” classification.
Knight supposedly spent the last seven months “following the science” and discussing the potential new start times with the community. Yet the decision he promised to give in January recently was delayed again until at least the April board meeting.
Amid the tumult, a Change. org petition to remove Knight has amassed over 400 signatures.
Knight frequently says everything he does is “for the children” and detractors want to intimidate him. On the Lyons controversy, Knight said the district is “plagued with a longstanding, systemic issue of failure,” then said, “I was asked to come in here and fix this and put processes in place. I think that's making some people uncomfortable; they would rather defame me.”
The superintendent also maintains he's using logic over emotion; his opponents argue the opposite.
One parent told me that Knight deems any opposition as “vocal minorities,” and while he was supposed to be a uniter, she says “instead all opposing his ideas are “fringe” and shouldn't be vocal.”
When I spoke to District 5 Supervisor Mary Adams, she asked if I'd “ever come across any other town that had this kind of an issue that's just so vitriolic?” during my reporting career. I told Adams, considering the circumstances, I have not, and that's telling.
It seems Knight should compromise on the light issue and take one controversy off his full plate.