By: Loan-Anh Pham
Measure AA is a facilities bond that will work to relieve MHS’s overcrowding (through expanding the current campus and constructing a second campus), improve safety and security throughout MUSD schools, and provide overdue repairs, School Board Member Robert Jung said. The bond, at $284 million dollars, was —– on Tuesday, Nov. 6, exceeding the required 55% “Yes” vote, Jung commented via a later email.
The second high school is a project that will receive $60 million dollars from the bond, Jung stated. The campus, set to be at Calaveras Hills High, will not be a comprehensive high school, and will relieve overcrowding if 400 to 500 students attend, Jung added.
“We think [the school] is going to be focused on science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM),” Jung said. “So you’re not going to have, for example, fields to support a new football team. You’re not going to have a gym to support PE. Think of a magnet high school.”
State regulations require fifty acres for a comprehensive high school, rendering one in Milpitas impossible due to a lack of land, School Board Member Amin Fazal said. Discussion on the apportionment of students to the new school will be done in collaboration with MHS administration, Fazal continued.
An additional $90 million dollars would go towards updating MHS, including the construction of additional portables, Fazal commented. When recalling the crowds at the MHS production of “Hairspray” last school year, Fazal expressed the need for a larger theater, he added.
“We didn’t have enough space to accommodate everybody,” Fazal said. “That’s one of the things we want to do -redo the theater.”
The $30 million dollar gap between money for MHS renovations and money for the second high school is likely due to timing, Bond Committee Co-Chair Silvia Dias explained. Because MHS is an active school, construction would take much longer since the district would need to work around students’ schedules, Dias noted.
“You can’t just come in,” Dias said. “With a new school, you don’t have that. You can kind of be done in one or two months.”
Safety and security improvements would vary depending on the school Fazal commented. Improvements could range from fencing for the elementary schools or additional security cameras at MHS, Fazal explained.
“There’s an audit going on at every single facility right now, and they’ll provide recommendations,” Jung said. “Overall, in my opinion, I haven’t seen a high issue with security. But certainly, we want to double check that the assumptions are correct, and if we need to improve we will.”
Transparency with voters has been a goal with the bond committee, Dias stated. The aim of the bond is to create a better future for students, Dias continued.
“There’s a lot of things that are in need,” Dias said. “You know when you own a home, you have to maintain it basically. You can choose to not maintain it, but you’re also choosing to possibly have expensive fixes in the future that you may not have money for.”
Despite the bond committee’s intention to improve communication, he barely heard about Measure AA until his interview, Junior Kyle Nguyen said. Communication with students is important even if most students cannot vote for bonds or any other legislation, Nguyen commented.
“I’m not sure if the majority of students on campus would agree with [the bond’s] priorities,” Nguyen noted. “The students will be affected, arguably the most, by this kind of change, and they deserve the right to voice their opinions on the topic.”
Even an email to the student population would suffice, Nguyen suggested. With incoming changes to MUSD, all opinions should be taken into account, Nguyen added.
