Gym committees listen to residents’ concerns

Angelique Flores

The district’s four community advisory committees met for the first

time last week to begin mulling over concerns about the proposed middle

school gyms before they make recommendations to the Ocean View School

District Board of Trustees.

“There’s lots of anger, mistrust,” Trustee Carol Kanode said. “People

are unsure that this process is one we’ll listen to.”

With mixed emotions and a laundry list of issues to tackle, three of

the committees zeroed in on the main concerns of the project.

“We came up with some really good ideas. The question now is, are they

really going to listen to us?” said Todd Emmons, community representative

from Marine View Middle School. “Everybody [in Marine View] was very much

for a facility for the children, and we’re willing to work with the

school.”

Such was the sentiment at Mesa View and Vista View middle schools.

While each community had a small group of residents who don’t want a gym,

the larger part of the community made steps to work cooperatively with

district officials to build a gym the school could enjoy and the

residents could live with.

However, Spring View residents stormed the meeting to say they didn’t

want a gym in their neighborhood. Disappointed and embarrassed with the

community’s “rude, impolite and disrespectful” behavior, the Spring View

committee left the meeting feeling as though little was accomplished.

“The Spring View meeting wasn’t just vocal, it was more like a mob,”

said Karen Martin, community representative from Spring View Middle

School. “We got heckled and yelled at. . . . We didn’t get what we set

out to get.”

After three hours of little progress, the facilitator walked out and

the committee closed the meeting.

“We’re willing to allow them to raise that concern [of not having a

gym at all] and maybe incorporate that in our recommendation, but it’s

not in our jurisdiction to” vote on not having a gym, Martin said.

Spring View community members put out a survey in December, as did

Marine View, to gather feedback from residents.

“We got a lot of input from that survey in writing,” Martin said. “We

will take comments from the survey and use ideas from the other

communities.”

The biggest concern Spring View Middle School has with the gym is

renting it out to groups outside the school community. Residents are also

concerned the facility would aggravate parking and traffic problems.

The main issues at Marine View, Mesa View and Vista View middle

schools include facility rental and the dimensions of the structure and

the location of the building. The committee is looking at changing the

proposed location and additional parking area, and creating an

alternative entrance to the school off of Slater Avenue.

“Those were the main issues, not whether or not they could have [a

gym] or not,” Emmons said. “We’re not opposed to it. We just don’t want

to rent it out.”

The Mesa View committee shared an interest in moving the location of

the gym to an interior part of the campus, reducing the size and

restricting the use to Boy and Girl Scouts.

“Folks are concerned about outsiders coming into the neighborhood and

renting it out outside of the school community,” Vista View Principal

Kathy Bihr said.

Each advisory committee will review its drafts and have a tentative

recommendation available to the community at each school. These drafts

are expected to be ready by the end of the month.

“We want to make sure that everything [the communities have] said is

captured,” Supt. James Tarwater said. “Part of the meetings is to

reestablish trust and make sure the ideas are considered.”

The committees will present a written recommendation to the board for

discussion in late February or early March. The board will then spend the

next two months researching the details and studying the recommendations

before making a final decision.

“We’re giving an honest process, probably one we should havedone

first,” Kanode said. “We need to be sure that we listen.”

After the board approves the parameters of gyms, which may not be

until the end of April, the environmental consultants will begin the

initial study, which will then take eight to 10 weeks.