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Del Mar board thankful new Del Mar Heights School spared by wildfire

When fire ignited in the Torrey Pines Reserve Extension on June 25, aerial views showed fire whipping through the canyon and clouds of smoke blooming worryingly close to the nearly complete new Del Mar Heights School campus. The school site was used as a staging area for firefighters and helicopters even landed on the new grass field. As firefighters gathered on Mira Montana, the school construction team at Balfour Beatty was even there to assist.

With the fire successfully contained, the following day at the Del Mar Union School District board’s meeting, board members and district staff expressed their gratitude for the first responders.

“We appreciate all the efforts that they made to keep our area safe and keep our brand new school untouched so we can have it available for students in the fall,” said DMUSD Board President Gee Wah Mok.

“It was a really stressful time,” echoed board member Katherine Fitzpatrick.

Finishing touches are being placed on the school with furniture coming in this month. Teachers are expected back in August to set up their classrooms to welcome students back after four years off campus.

With the incident, Fitzpatrick said there were heightened concerns among community members about wildfire evacuation plans for the new school and she asked if there were any insights the district could take away from the day.

Assistant Superintendent Chris Delehanty said that while the buildings are laid out differently, the entrance and exit to the campus is the same so the evacuation plan is not dramatically different.

“The upside of the new site is that we have much better access for fire, we have many more fire hydrants and we have buildings that are fire-rated,” said Delehanty of the fiber cement and glass structure with a metal roof. “We don’t have portables that have no running water on the edge of the canyon.”

Executive Director of Student Services Jennifer Huh said emergency procedures are in place with every school’s safety plan and students participate in monthly fire drills per California education code. Evacuation locations are fluid depending on where the fire is located but reunification sites have been identified for every school site and are available in each school’s safety plan, she said.

During the meeting, Fitzpatrick also addressed concerns raised by neighbors about run-off into the reserve. Neighbors have alerted the district to excess irrigation water that is flowing down into the reserve, causing erosion and soaking the trail below. Complaints have been made to the Regional Water Board and California State Parks, who are aware and working with the district on the issue.

Delehanty said the watering frequency is temporary as they are establishing the new landscaping and the grass field. He said they have adjusted the irrigation schedule and are looking into additional prevention measures at the outfall and larger storm drains.

Board approves balanced budget

The Del Mar Union School District approved a balanced budget for the 2024-25 school year, reflecting “support for student well-being and success” with an additional school counselor, math and reading intervention teachers, and the new Transitional Kindergarten Early Intervention program for the district’s youngest learners.

Approved in January, the new program is for students who are four years old by Sept. 1, prioritizing those who are low-income eligible, homeless and foster youth. The district approved the limited program as they do not receive state funding to implement universal transitional kindergarten, which all California school districts must offer by 2025-26. So far 20 families have applied and proven eligible, requiring one classroom and two staff members, a credentialed teacher and instructional aid.

As Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Chris Delehanty said, the budget supports board priorities such as maintaining small class sizes, STEAM + opportunities for students, World Language and deferred maintenance. Additional expenditures in this year’s budget include an increase to the maintenance contribution, a student Chromebook refresh, and bus transportation during the Del Mar Hills School modernization.

Board member Katherine Fitzpatrick voted against the budget, with its reserve level of 24.8%: “I would like to see funds allocated in a different way,” she said.

Throughout the year, Fitzpatrick has closely scrutinized district spending, eying things like conference attendance, mileage reimbursements, meeting expenses and personnel decisions as enrollment declines. Just as they have added school counselors, now with an “amazing” total of eight, Fitzpatrick believes that the district can find a way to make a full implementation of transitional kindergarten work.

The early intervention TK program is anticipated to cost $548,000 for the first year. A full TK program of about 16 classrooms is estimated to cost $4,384,000 out of the general fund.

In her remarks, board member Erica Halpern said she was comfortable approving the budget as it meets all of the board’s priorities. Board member Alan Kholos said he supported the budget and looked forward to the board’s next budget workshop to consider how they can allocate funds—as one example, the district has $2 million reserved for child nutrition services, which had once been running at a deficit but is now in the black.

At the meeting, the board heard an update on the child nutrition services (CNS) program, which this year operated out of its new central kitchen at Pacific Sky School for the first time to positive results.

Since 2022-23, the district has implemented Universal Meals, serving breakfast and lunch to all students free of charge. According to Director of CNS Jamie Phillips, the district served 120,625 breakfasts this year, an increase of 22% over last year which he partially attributes to adding some warm breakfast options for students. They average 670 breakfasts a day.

Lunch service has gone up 2% with 345,226 meals served, about 1,917 a day. The most popular items are the cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and chicken sandwiches.

Phillips said they use student surveys and meal counts and taste tests to help shape the menus.

The district also utilized grant money to take on a farm-to-school program, working with a dozen California farms to bring in almost 12 tons of fresh produce for students this year, including purchasing an entire orchard of navel oranges from Pauma Valley. Keeping an eye on waste, the district donated 20,539 pounds to the Fallbrook Food Pantry and is working with student-led “green teams” on recycling efforts.

“What we’ve been able to accomplish in one school year has been absolutely amazing,” Philips said.