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School district eyes Media Center
By Kerrie Russell
Tribune Editor
The cash strapped Healdsburg Unified School District is searching for an affordable solution to replace its dilapidated portable district offices and one solution being eyed could mean the displacement of AHTV, Healdsburg’s community access television station.
The district’s search for new offices has aroused concerns of board members and supporters of the television operation, claiming a relocation of the TV studio would be too costly and might lead to the demise of the station.
At the same time, HUSD Superintendent Jeff Harding said all searches are preliminary at this point and none should be ruled out including relocating to the former Foss Creek School or building a more permanent office at its current location at the Prince Street entrance to Healdsburg High School.
Discussions between the school district, AHTV and the city of Healdsburg have been ongoing regarding HUSD’s potential plans. An original facility use agreement between the city and the schools for the Media Center expired two years ago. AHTV is the private, non-profit group contracted by the city to operate the cable stations.
While no decisions have been made, according to district Superintendent Jeff Harding, it’s one of many options the district is considering.
“We are looking at all of the options, and they are all poor options,” Harding said. “I have yet to find an ideal option. We are trying to be financially frugal, we’re trying to support academics, and we have yet to find an ideal option.”
Currently, the district offices are comprised of three portable buildings on wood foundations with dry rot and no permanent sewer or water, and there are “building code issues,” Harding said.
“These buildings are in bad shape. They were designed to be here as a stop gap measure for at most a year or two, and we’re now in year seven.”
And since the district owns the Media Center building, Harding said, it would be irresponsible to not look at the option of moving the administrative offices there.
Access Healdsburg board members and supporters are not pleased with the possibility of having to relocate, however.
“The community has made a huge investment in that location,” said AHTV board secretary Tom Negrino. “Our investment is — between one source of funds and another — nearing half a million dollars.”
A large portion of that money was spent to retrofit a bare bones building into a fully functional Media Center, improvements that would be lost if the station was moved to another facility, Negrino said.
One of the possibilities for the television station would be to move to a few classrooms at the former Foss Creek School site, but it could come at a substantial cost, Access Healdsburg supporters said.
“Forcing the station to move right now will force it out of business,” said founding board member Kathleen Palmer. “If we’re going to have a station, it needs to be there.”
Palmer and Negrino both served on the initial board that put Access Healdsburg on the air beginning in 2003.
The history of community television programming in Healdsburg began with the passage of a school bond in 1994, which secured $19.8 million to refurbish and modernize Healdsburg High School and Healdsburg Junior High School.
After the builder hired by the school district went bankrupt and construction of classrooms stopped, declining enrollment due to the opening of Windsor High School caused the district’s board to re-evaluate what had been written in Measure A as funding for seven through 12th grade classrooms.
Instead, in 1998 the board decided to turn what would have been a four-classroom building into a Media Center, installing sound proofing and small booths with windows facing the studio room for editing bays during the school’s remodel, completed in 2001.
In 2002, a cable franchise agreement was secured by the city and a facilities agreement was signed in April of 2002 between the school district and the city of Healdsburg.
About $250,000 from the franchise agreement was used to outfit the building with the cables, wires and equipment needed for video production and editing.
In the five-year contract, the television station was to provide 18 hours per week of exclusive use to the high school of the center studio, facilities and equipment.
That five-year contract was up in 2007, but was never renewed.
“No one has come to me interested in renewing the agreement,” Harding said. He added that the 18-hour agreement also doesn’t happen.
Harding said a Regional Occupancy Program (ROP) Video Lab was added to the campus in a classroom not far from where the Media Center is currently located and is used by about 60 students.
Access Healdsburg Board President Mark Decker said, however, that based on recent conversations he’s had with school officials, they were unaware of how often the Media Center is utilized by students.
“I keep hearing that people feel that facility is underutilized by students, when in fact, there’s no proof that supports that,” Decker said. “We have documentation that shows different for the last three years.”
Decker added that non-ROP students are not allowed to use the ROP video lab, but often come during after school hours to use the video editing equipment Access Healdsburg provides.
In the last three weeks alone, Decker said, besides students using the center, many community groups including the Healdsburg/Windsor Children’s Choir and the Fire Free Fitch group, a play by St. John’s School was edited and 30 students from Tomorrow’s Leaders Today made a video.
The 18-hour agreement, “absolutely never went away,” Decker said.
But, Harding believes that since the Media Center building is owned by the district, the center isn’t used for video instruction by the high school and there is no rent paid by the station for use of the building, “it would be foolish for me not to investigate this option.”
The school board also will discuss other options, including renovating the portable buildings where the district offices currently are or renovating classrooms in a back wing at the Foss Creek Community Center.
“No decisions have been made, we are just investigating,” Harding said.
The discussion was expected to continue at Wednesday evening’s school board meeting (after press time).
Negrino said the Access Healdsburg board members are assuming the district is serious about moving into the Media Center.
He said if Access Healdsburg is moved to the Foss Creek community center facility, it will be nothing like the resource that it is today.
“It may be called Access Healdsburg, but it will be a much more limited facility and I think Healdsburg will be the poorer for it,” Negrino said.
Decker said the bottom line about moving is that they don’t know what the costs would be.
“The cost factor will be the major stumbling block for any kind of change,” he said.
Harding said he sees the value the station has in the community, but will discuss all options with the school board.
“We want to work on this problem until we agree on a best solution,” he said. “We certainly want to preserve public broadcasting and want to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.”
The district’s search for new offices has aroused concerns of board members and supporters of the television operation, claiming a relocation of the TV studio would be too costly and might lead to the demise of the station.
At the same time, HUSD Superintendent Jeff Harding said all searches are preliminary at this point and none should be ruled out including relocating to the former Foss Creek School or building a more permanent office at its current location at the Prince Street entrance to Healdsburg High School.
Discussions between the school district, AHTV and the city of Healdsburg have been ongoing regarding HUSD’s potential plans. An original facility use agreement between the city and the schools for the Media Center expired two years ago. AHTV is the private, non-profit group contracted by the city to operate the cable stations.
While no decisions have been made, according to district Superintendent Jeff Harding, it’s one of many options the district is considering.
“We are looking at all of the options, and they are all poor options,” Harding said. “I have yet to find an ideal option. We are trying to be financially frugal, we’re trying to support academics, and we have yet to find an ideal option.”
Currently, the district offices are comprised of three portable buildings on wood foundations with dry rot and no permanent sewer or water, and there are “building code issues,” Harding said.
“These buildings are in bad shape. They were designed to be here as a stop gap measure for at most a year or two, and we’re now in year seven.”
And since the district owns the Media Center building, Harding said, it would be irresponsible to not look at the option of moving the administrative offices there.
Access Healdsburg board members and supporters are not pleased with the possibility of having to relocate, however.
“The community has made a huge investment in that location,” said AHTV board secretary Tom Negrino. “Our investment is — between one source of funds and another — nearing half a million dollars.”
A large portion of that money was spent to retrofit a bare bones building into a fully functional Media Center, improvements that would be lost if the station was moved to another facility, Negrino said.
One of the possibilities for the television station would be to move to a few classrooms at the former Foss Creek School site, but it could come at a substantial cost, Access Healdsburg supporters said.
“Forcing the station to move right now will force it out of business,” said founding board member Kathleen Palmer. “If we’re going to have a station, it needs to be there.”
Palmer and Negrino both served on the initial board that put Access Healdsburg on the air beginning in 2003.
The history of community television programming in Healdsburg began with the passage of a school bond in 1994, which secured $19.8 million to refurbish and modernize Healdsburg High School and Healdsburg Junior High School.
After the builder hired by the school district went bankrupt and construction of classrooms stopped, declining enrollment due to the opening of Windsor High School caused the district’s board to re-evaluate what had been written in Measure A as funding for seven through 12th grade classrooms.
Instead, in 1998 the board decided to turn what would have been a four-classroom building into a Media Center, installing sound proofing and small booths with windows facing the studio room for editing bays during the school’s remodel, completed in 2001.
In 2002, a cable franchise agreement was secured by the city and a facilities agreement was signed in April of 2002 between the school district and the city of Healdsburg.
About $250,000 from the franchise agreement was used to outfit the building with the cables, wires and equipment needed for video production and editing.
In the five-year contract, the television station was to provide 18 hours per week of exclusive use to the high school of the center studio, facilities and equipment.
That five-year contract was up in 2007, but was never renewed.
“No one has come to me interested in renewing the agreement,” Harding said. He added that the 18-hour agreement also doesn’t happen.
Harding said a Regional Occupancy Program (ROP) Video Lab was added to the campus in a classroom not far from where the Media Center is currently located and is used by about 60 students.
Access Healdsburg Board President Mark Decker said, however, that based on recent conversations he’s had with school officials, they were unaware of how often the Media Center is utilized by students.
“I keep hearing that people feel that facility is underutilized by students, when in fact, there’s no proof that supports that,” Decker said. “We have documentation that shows different for the last three years.”
Decker added that non-ROP students are not allowed to use the ROP video lab, but often come during after school hours to use the video editing equipment Access Healdsburg provides.
In the last three weeks alone, Decker said, besides students using the center, many community groups including the Healdsburg/Windsor Children’s Choir and the Fire Free Fitch group, a play by St. John’s School was edited and 30 students from Tomorrow’s Leaders Today made a video.
The 18-hour agreement, “absolutely never went away,” Decker said.
But, Harding believes that since the Media Center building is owned by the district, the center isn’t used for video instruction by the high school and there is no rent paid by the station for use of the building, “it would be foolish for me not to investigate this option.”
The school board also will discuss other options, including renovating the portable buildings where the district offices currently are or renovating classrooms in a back wing at the Foss Creek Community Center.
“No decisions have been made, we are just investigating,” Harding said.
The discussion was expected to continue at Wednesday evening’s school board meeting (after press time).
Negrino said the Access Healdsburg board members are assuming the district is serious about moving into the Media Center.
He said if Access Healdsburg is moved to the Foss Creek community center facility, it will be nothing like the resource that it is today.
“It may be called Access Healdsburg, but it will be a much more limited facility and I think Healdsburg will be the poorer for it,” Negrino said.
Decker said the bottom line about moving is that they don’t know what the costs would be.
“The cost factor will be the major stumbling block for any kind of change,” he said.
Harding said he sees the value the station has in the community, but will discuss all options with the school board.
“We want to work on this problem until we agree on a best solution,” he said. “We certainly want to preserve public broadcasting and want to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.”
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