There will be a community meeting about the San Juan school district's proposal to remove the middle school students from the Encina/Greer complex. The district wants to:

• For northern Arden Arcade: eliminate the Arcade Fundamental Middle School, tear it down and build a large new middle school there costing $50M-$60M
• For central Arden Arcade: relocate the Creekside Adult school, tear down the existing buildings and build a large new middle school campus there costing $50M-$60M
• For southern Arden Arcade: have Arden Middle School serve students from west of Watt Avenue as well as from east of Watt Avenue (cost unknown)
• Move the Creekside Adult School to the Encina/Greer complex using portable classrooms (cost unknown)

This is a major policy change, one that isn't in the school district's Facilities Plan. The school district's stated rationale is an expected "bulge" of 300 middle school for a short period in the near future. For some reason, the school district is keeping the proposal close to the vest such that very few parents and taxpayers are aware of the decisions. There have been a few public meetings about the new central middle school for Creekside that have mostly been infomercials about the plans from the school district staff. There was also a public meeting wherein the school district's Environmental Impact Report (EIR) staff and contractor claimed to want to hear from the public about what should be studied in the EIR - it was plain the staff wanted just cursory analysis, whereas the public wanted in-depth attention to the site's many constraints. Those meetings mostly targeted the residents of the immediate area around the old Creekside school. So far, hardly any information has made it to the outside world.

Perhaps that situation will change. Community groups dedicated to improving educational experiences for area youth will be holding a public meeting on August 16th at 6pm at the community center in Howe Park. For more information, see the meeting flyer: