Check out the article about the history building in the Viking News (Alumni Association) on the cover page.
Viking December 2020 Newsletter
Enjoy the link to district propaganda and remember:
1) The district has never hired a preservation expert to explore the costs and possibilities around the adaptive reuse of the historic buildings on prospect hill.
2) Contrary to district communications, buildings can be retrofitted, converted to state of the art spaces suitable for 21st century learning, while saving time and money. This is why LAUSD has a policy in place for such best practices.
3) The COO has articulated that this study would cost $30-50K. Before the district spends $172M of your bond money on Phase 3, which includes destroying our cultural resources, please urge them to pause and hire a preservation expert to study costs and possibilities.
4) Instead of blowing $172M on Phase 3, some of those funds can be redirected to other campuses in dire need of improvements.
5) Your signing is sending a message to the school board that we will no longer vote for unspecified bond measures on the ballot and that trust needs to be regained by taking the simple actions we are requesting.
6) Heritage education is a real thing and by decimating the most iconic cultural resource in our district you are sending a message to students that traditions and sustainability do not matter. The board might not realize that only financially privileged students travel to other cities and Europe to experience history and that students of all economic means could benefit from these experiences on campus. Students are being robbed of physical connections to our local and national history in addition to the inspirational opportunities that have benefited so many accomplished alumni who have been educated in the buildings before them.
7) The history building is just one instance of cultural resources being destroyed in the district. In 2016, Historical JAMS auditorium could have been rehabbed for $7M, new build estimated at $32M is now up to $44M. The Muir Woods mural has been rotting at The Michelle and Barack Obama’s Center for Inquiry and Exploration, even though the original artist only estimated ½ of the ear marked funds. Our city’s treasure is at a standstill and at the mercy of the school board. Most recently a Cesar Chavez Mural and Promenade was destroyed for grading at the Samohi campus with no notice or consideration of our cultural heritage.
8) In 1990, 800 students gathered at the history building in order to march down Pico Blvd to join iconic Civil Rights activist, Cesar Chavez. Samohi students joined Cesar Chavez in peaceful protest of harmful pesticide spraying in California, impacting farm workers, water, and food. The buildings should be rehabilitated, used for the academies or an iconic library and museum and named after Cesar Chavez!
9) Please sign and share change.org/savesamohihistory and save the date of January 14th at 5.30PM to make public comment. Please contact us if you can help! Don't forget the write the board and let them know that completing due diligence before spending $172M of taxpayer money is the right thing to do!
Please write the SMMUSD School Board at brd@smmusd.org and cc: the Superintendent, bdrati@smmusd.org, samohialumni@gmail.com, advocacy@smconservancy.org, fixsmmusd@gmail.com, council@smgov.net, senator.allen@senate.ca.gov
Anonymous letters can be sent to Attn: Save Samo, Santa Monica Conservancy, P.O. Box 653 Santa Monica, CA 90406-0653
Enjoy!
A Wave From the Hill
30 years ago
A Brilliant Wave
800 in Force
Congregated
Along concrete steps
At Samohi's WPA Building
Gathered on (date) 1990
They Marched through a Building
Called History
A Representation Of Past
Their Action
Pave a Future for their Generation
Students Allied
Protested Pesticides
Descended Prospect Hill
Progressed Pico Blvd
A Movement United
Coalesced
With an Icon
Labor Leader Legend
Césario Estrada Chávez
Civil Rights Activist
The Goal
Signatures on a Ballot Measure
For Program Reforms and Protections
From Toxic Chemicals
For Farm Workers, Food and Water
The History, the Work Continues
Today, our Path
A Journey for Justice
For Program Reforms
For Retention of Connection
To Preserve a Building called History
And Protect a Mural named Chavez
The Action
Signatures on a Ballot Measure
Vikings in History
On a Hill named Prospect
We Charge
To Honor Leaders of the Past
And Forge a Pathway for Movements
With Concrete Steps
United in Advocacy
New Waves from the Hill
Anonymous