The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/725508
September 9, 2016 Serving Red Bluff High School since 1901 Volume CXVII Issue 2 J.V. Football, page 5 Mr. Kinner and his thrird period wood shop class repair the new wood shop sign that had broken outside of the Red Bluff Union High School wood shop facility. Bluffer/Lexi Pritchard Lexi Pritchard Editor-In-Chief The Bluffer Red Bluff High School's wood shop class renovates itself with new name The Shallows, page 4 Homecoming Queens, page 3 Bluffer/Sophie Cumpton Red Bluff High School's wood shop class is "reinventing" itself with a new name, semi-new teacher and new spirit. The class has put up a sign saying "The Factory" using all recycled material collected over a wide range of places. "Each letter has a story to it, the T is made from wood that I saved when I remodeled a Chinese restaurant in town. The Y was rescued from a branch that fell down behind the shop," stated Mr. Kinner. Recently, the dad of Mr. Kinner, the woodshop teacher, donated a wood press to the class and with this new tool they plan on making skateboards, decorated with a school symbol, to sell. Not only are they making skateboards, but also drumsticks for band kids or anyone in general with an interest in drumming. He knows students have to buy their own drumsticks and he also knows just how expensive the stores in town sell them for. They'll have a possible striped design, with school colors of course, and will be sold for much less making them even more accessible to the students here. They hope to receive mostly donated materials for all of the above projects allowing them to make a bigger and better profit and hopefully expand possibilities for woodshop that were not there before. If he can raise enough money he also planned to buy a fixer-upper house near the school and make woodshop two classes long. This way he could show kids how to fix up a house giving the students real world experience in a possible career field they wanted to pursue. "I know it's ambitious but I don't think it's too unreasonable and I believe we could make it happen," Mr. Kinner stated. Mr. Kinner has many more projects he wants to set in motion and the only thing that's questioning is the financial issues. He has plenty of faith in his class saying, "This year they've been very good and are working really hard. I believe they could definitely handle anything they set their mind to." This year's class has worked really hard and Mr. Kinner realizes it fully. He knows the teacher before him was great and now that he's been "passed down the torch" he hopes to just as well and inspire kids like the teacher before him. Shania Prieto A&E Editor As the 2016 November vote draws near, the governing board has placed a $26,000,000 bond, Measure J, for The Red Bluff Union High School district on the ballot. If the bond is approved by the voters, then any person who owns property within the Red Bluff High School District will pay a $30 per 100, 000 dollars of assessed property. That means if you own property assessed at 100, 000 dollars, you would pay 30 dollars per year for the next 30 years. The money collected from the taxes goes to support bonds that can be sold by the district, which in turn can be used by the district for building and repairing Red Bluff High School, Salisbury and Independant Study. For something this beneficial to occur, "It requires the citizens in our district to vote and it needs to pass by 55%," said Todd Brose Red Bluff High School Superintendant. "If it passes we will issue $13,000,000 of bonds in 2017. Once they're issued then we can start using the money for our projects. The second issuance of bonds will be in 2019," he continued. Mr. Brose said, "It will be used for repairs, renovations, and upgrading our classrooms to mordern day facilities. We want to focus on our CTE classrooms, so like our AG facilities." He also mentioned that they want to do more fencing around the school to make it safer. They also want to make repairs that'll accomodate people with disabilities. This decision made by the board took over a year to be placed on 2016 ballot. The process of putting Measure J into this year's ballot did not He then went on to say, "We keep patching stuff here and there, but we don't have the money to keep up what we need, especially with the way our education is going." With the increasing amount of CTE courses, the classrooms need to be updated, so that students are recieveing the highest quality education possible and gaining beneficial learning skills. In all of the facilities that were deemed inadequate, and those deemed marginal, a total of approximately $50,000,000 of projects ammassed that need to be completed as soon as possible. "We don't have that money. We can quit paying teachers and fix the facilities," said Keffer. In the end it is of upmost importance that Measure J gets approved, because the board wants to improve the school. As James Keffer said, " This is for the kids." happen overnight. Mr. Brose mentioned that the board placed a poll on three hundred residents f r o m the district and explain w h y they needed the bond. Residents were surveyed on their opinion of whether or not they would approve or disapprove of Measure J and they gathered a favorable report from a majority of people w h o s a i d they wouldn't mind paying the extra thirty dollars for the bond. James Keffer, clerk of the board stated, "Even though this is a conservative area, the community members expressed their approval of it." The Red Bluff Union High School District School Board is made up of five individuals: Lida Chase, Jack Hansen, Chris Hurton, James Keffer, and Rod Thompson, all of whom ran for a county election and were voted on. "It was a very long, thought out proces," said Keffer. The reason the bond was propose, was because a company was hired to look into all of the campuses in the district and examine all of what needed to be repaired. It was broken down into three different areas: what was simply inadequate, things that were fairly decent, and the facilities that will last for a while on campus. "The school is not a new school. The campus is not built to handle the load this long," said James Keffer Due to inflation, state cuts, and the house market not being very high, the school isn't getting substantial financial support to maintain the campus like they would prefer. RBUHS District in dire need of bond