District given update on opening of AHS pool

ATASCADERO — The Atascadero Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Trustees met for its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. The meeting was held and streamed from the Creston Elementary School Cafeteria. Trustees Tracy Ellis-Weit and Rebekah Koznek were absent from the meeting.

During his Superintendent’s Report, Tom Butler invited Atascadero Unified School District Facilities Director Brant Lloyd to the podium to give an update on the Atascadero High School (AHS) swimming pool. Lloyd said water was put into the pool a few weeks before Spring Break.

“Right at the beginning of Spring Break, we had the specialist come along,” Lloyd said. “He is the one that connects all of the equipment that was installed by the pool subcontractor. He’s the one who actually makes the connections and helps turn the equipment on.”

AHS’s pool operator, who came from the school’s groundskeeping staff, is now working alongside the pool specialist to learn everything about this specific pool.

“Hand in hand, these guys are making sure the flow is correct, making sure the chemical balance is correct. It’s a good thing because with any type of new thing that comes along, you always have some issues to iron out,” stated Lloyd.

Lloyd added that there’s still a bit of construction fencing around the pool, and some work is still being done, but that, for the most part, the pool is getting really close to being fully completed. The district has used this time to educate the maintenance staff on how to maintain the pool and bring the coaching staff in to show them the ropes of the new pool.

“We’ll be letting the community know when Mr. Lloyd says the pool is ready, then we’ll get the word out to our entire community to come and see it,” Butler said.

Both the minutes from the March 19 meeting and the Consent Agenda passed unanimously.

The board was then presented with an item on the length of time that video recordings should be kept on the district’s YouTube channel. This was a carry-over item from the March 19 meeting. 

Butler provided the board with answers to questions posed at the last meeting. He stated that the government code states that recordings may be erased or destroyed 30 days after recording. The California School Board Association recommended the same guidance, which has already been adopted by the AUSD. He also stated that all other school districts in the county have the same language in their policies. Most trustee board members said they would still like to see the videos kept online for more than 30 days. Butler recommended that the item be brought back at the next meeting to discuss timing in more detail.

“I would still recommend that we still follow this policy, but we could have a practice where, if the board decides to keep them up for, you know, 90 days, three months, so we could try that. That’s a quarter of a year. We can monitor it and see if it increases workload,” added Butler.

California School District Financial Advisor Dale Scott then addressed the board with an informational-only item on the feasibility of a future bond. Scott presented the results of an Atascadero survey, which could lead to a measure on the November election ballot. 

“This was a survey that was done of voters in your community, focusing specifically on the potential of putting a general allocation bond on the November ballot,” said Scott.

The survey was done in both English and Spanish, and it was a survey for voters specifically. According to the survey, around 68 percent of the community would vote yes on the bond, with a margin of error.

“Before you can get on the ballot, the board needs to pass a resolution, the resolution is then sent to the County Elections Office,” Scott said. “You’re actually asking the county to put the measure on the ballot for you. That resolution has to be with the county by the middle of June (June 18) in this county.”

Passing of the resolution will need a two-thirds vote of approval from the trustee board and will be brought back to the board for approval in May.

The next regularly scheduled AUSD Board of Trustees meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 7, at 7 p.m.