Schools advisory group tapped to manage Measure S funds
Three former Glendale Unified school board candidates were among the nine people named Tuesday to a committee that will advise district officials on capital projects funded by the $270-million school bond measure passed in April.
Todd Hunt, Vahik Satoorian and Dan Cabrera were among the six challengers in the school board race that culminated on April 5 with the reelection of incumbents Mary Boger and Nayiri Nahabedian.
The additional members of the Superintendent’s Facility Advisory Committee include Richard Collins, Nora Matosian, Lynn McGinnis, Naveed Near-Ansari, Steve Robertson and Rebecca York.
This is the second of three committees that will assist as the district rolls out multiple large-scale facilities and infrastructure projects funded by Measure S, the $270-million bond approved by voters earlier this year.
In June, district officials named seven people to the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, which will review expenditures, inspect facilities and communicate with the public. Officials currently are assembling a technology-specific subcommittee that will be composed of two members of the Superintendent’s Facility Advisory Committee and three additional community members.
“Their charge will be looking at a lot of what is going on technologically, particularly in regard to our technological infrastructure,” Deputy Supt. John Garcia said.
Applications for the technology subcommittee are available on the district website. The deadline is Sept. 2.
The Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee is required by state law and holds some supervisorial powers. The facilities and technology committees were voluntarily created by the district and are solely advisory.
Officials said they received nine applications for the Superintendent’s Facility Advisory Committee. They then added to the candidate pool for the Facility Advisory Committee the 44 individuals who had previously applied for the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee.
“We had such a wonderful group of people who applied for all of our committees,” said Eva Lueck, the district’s chief financial and business officer. “It was certainly my pleasure to sit with the superintendent as we went through the process.”
Measure S passed on April 5 with 69.9% of the vote and is being phased in on the heels of Measure K, a $186-million bond passed in 1997 that financed major projects, such as the refurbishment of Clark Magnet High School. The cost to property owners will remain unchanged, at about $46 per $100,000 of assessed value through 2050, according to district officials.
The first series of Measure S bonds — a total of $54 million — were sold this week. Projects slated for bond funding include technology infrastructure upgrades and school site facility upgrades.