Vol. 1, Issue 35, October 3-9, 2008



By Lacey Nadeau

Dana Point Times



School district to consider whether to build performing arts centers



The Capistrano Unified School District board of trustees will decide at their next meeting whether to proceed with plans for a new theater at Dana Hills High School. The district is in line to receive a partial grant for the theater—one of three high school performing arts centers under consideration for modernization.



DHHS, San Clemente High and Capo Valley High could possibly receive new or upgraded theaters, depending on the board’s decision Monday, October 6. It’s possible that one, two or all of the projects will be given the green light; or they could all be stopped. So far, $93,000 has been spent in determining the feasibility and initially planning phase. At Dana Hills, $32,500 has been spent to assess the scope of the project.



The grant comes from an Assembly bill from 2006 that provided $500 million for Career Technical Education in high schools. If the projects receive approval from the district and everything goes according to plan, the district will be provided with $3 million each for new construction at DHHS and CVHS, and $1.5 million for modernization at SCHS. But the district expects the cost for the projects to total $30 million: $13 million for DHHS, $12 million for CVHS and $5 million for SCHS. Some sources have been identified for the difference in funding, but nothing is guaranteed. And the district must make a decision quickly, as the grants come with a time stamp. The grant was approved on April 17; to keep it, the district must have the Division of the State Architect approve the project plans by December 10, 2009.



“We are in a dilemma as, if we approve it, we will be spending money we don’t have, and if we don’t, we will lose money we need for the kids,” said Trustee Mike Darnold.

The board is being asked to make a decision next week without knowing how much it will actually pull from the CUSD budget, in the wake of cutting $20 million from the current year’s budget, and with about $12 million more needing to be cut for the 2009–’10 school year.



Support has been strong this year for the performing arts centers projects, and the South Orange County School of the Arts Foundation is ready to embark on an aggressive capital campaign to help make up the difference in funds.



“Students, parents, alumni, corporations, foundations and civic groups are standing in the wings—no pun intended—to financially support the theater project as soon as the district gives it the go-ahead,” said Ray Woods, artistic director for SOCSA.



SOCSA was founded by CUSD in 1996 and attracts many talented students to Dana Hills High School to study dance, music, theater and other performing arts. SOCSA Foundation President Alan Wickstrom said a new center would position Dana Hills as the site of the largest performing arts center in South Orange County. The program has doubled in size, he said, with more than 430 students. The current theater, the Porthole, is a 35-year-old lecture hall. Wickstrom said the new project would benefit the high school in several ways—besides a new theater and a place to store their equipment, the plan would provide the school with more parking spaces, new restrooms and new tennis courts—and he’s afraid the board will kill it next week.



“These trustees appear to be ready to throw it away,” he said, citing board President Ellen Addonizio’s comments at a recent subcommittee meeting, during which she suggested the district only had the funds for one theater. Wickstrom acknowledged the district has many needs, but said none of them have a grant behind them. “Don’t let a $3 million grant go to waste,” he said.



Since the grant application was originally submitted in February of this year, there has been turnover in the board of trustees and among district staff. Staff members wrote the grant before a school-year budget was determined.