Some of the people who live near the Creekside Middle School boondoggle construction site received a letter (dated Apr 5th) from the San Juan Unified School District notifying them that field work on a Preliminary Endangerment Assessment will be conducted at the site from April 7th to April 14th. The field work will lead to a draft report about the presence of hazardous materials that might have to be abated before construction can resume. There will be a 30-day public review and comment period on the draft report as well as a public hearing. The public's comments will be forwaerded to the state's Dept. of Toxic Substances Control so the department can issue its final determination. You can download the letter here:

Huh? What's this about? Probably asbestos. The old school building was full of it and, in its rush to get the project moving while the public wasn't looking, it seems the school district might not have been as thorough about hazardous substances as they should have. Maybe the site is contaminated and maybe it isn't. Either way, the school district is now having to spend money - your money, school bond money they never told you about - to respond to the Dept. of Toxic Substances Control.  And that raises other questions. Has the school district been hasty about anything else at this project? Has the public been told the whole story, the whole factual story? Guess we will find out.

By the way, this issue is playing out during a time when the school board is lacking a trustee (due to the unfortunate death of Trustee Steven Miller), which - as was demonstrated when the school board voted to fill Mr. MIller's position by special election (i.e. spend more of your money) - set the table for 3-3 tied decision-making. Tied as in hands tied, perhaps? Further, there is an upcoming election in 2024 to fill the open District 1 trustee seat that was created by the redistricting. Will the school district's shenanigans become a topic for school board candidates? We live in iteresting times, don't we?