Residents of Alpine and Blossom Valley have been asking the Grossmont Union High School District to build a high school in their community since at least 1998. A San Diego County Grand Jury report released Tuesday concludes those residents deserve a definitive answer from the district about whether the facility will ever be built.
The new high school planned for Alpine is on hold until at least 2018 under Grossmont Union High School District’s current timeline.
Construction projects get delayed all the time but the real problem, said San Diego County Grand Jury Foreman Paul Christian, is that district residents have been paying for the new facilities for almost nine years.
“In 2004 they passed a proposition, Proposition H, and in 2008, they passed Proposition U," he said. "Both of those propositions had in there about going ahead and building a high school in the Alpine/Blossom Valley Area.”
Those bonds totaled about $690 million.
The district has bought land in the Alpine area, but has said it is holding off on construction until enrollment increases and state funding returns to 2008 levels.
Following the release of the grand jury report, a district spokesperson said serious consideration will be given to the recommendations.
The Alpine Union School District, which runs elementary and middle schools in the area, has attempted in the past to become a unified school district. That would allow the district to build and operate a high school.
