The Cold Spring School district is a charming, little community, which is why it is so upsetting to see false attacks and misrepresentations about the school Board, the school administration, and Measure L being spread on social media and in a recent letter to this paper.
That letter, authored by a disgruntled ex-School Board member, is full of lies and misrepresentations. It states that that, “there has been no solicitation of community input.” In fact, the bond measure has been discussed at nearly every single school board meeting over the past year with ample opportunity for any community member to share their opinion. Moreover, the Board conducted a survey of district residents that showed over 70 percent of stakeholders were in favor of a bond measure.
The letter continues to say, “the district has been deficit spending for many years.” Another lie. Since Dr. Alzina was hired as superintendent/principal about four years ago, the district has had a budget surplus every year – while also growing the reserves over $1M – despite the Thomas fire, the debris flow that tragically took the lives of two students, and the pandemic. And through all of this has become the #1 scoring elementary school district in California and the winner of the prestigious Exemplary Arts Award. The only thing I agree with that letter’s author about is that I, too, would like “students and staff… to have clean, safe, and modern facilities in which to work and learn.” Our children deserve it.
Michael Marino is a trustee for the Cold Spring School Board.