A Lincoln-based school district is set to respond Tuesday to grand jury findings that it made numerous errors and misjudgments in the design, funding and construction of new schools.
A draft response to the Placer County 2007-08 grand jury final report will be presented for discussion and approval by the Western Placer Unified School District board.
About 30 pages - excluding attachments - detailed how Western Placer went from "the euphoria of growth and the promise of new schools to the disillusionment of debt and portable classrooms."
Trustee Brian Haley said the report "is not a bad thing."
"The grand jury report captured the issues of the past," Haley said last week at a board meeting. "I'm not worried about the response that will come out because we are already working on an action plan."
The grand jury in its report criticized the district's reliance on risky certificate of participation loans, which have high interest rates and use schools as collateral. The grand jurors also said that former superintendent Roger Yohe lead the district down a "fiscally irresponsible path" and initiated and approved plans for high-end, state-of-the-art schools with no fiscal plan in place.
Yohe's contract was canceled by mutual agreement in June 2007. He has rebuked the grand jury findings, explaining that school construction plans were a community effort.
The grand jury offered 15 recommendations for the district to move forward.
Superintendent Scott Leaman, district trustees and Lincoln City Manager James Estep were required to provide a written response within 60 days of the issuance of the June 17 report. Leaman said the district's written response will be available at several city venues, including the district office and Web site http://www.wpusd.k12.ca.us.
The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at Lincoln High School, 790 J St., Lincoln.
Call The Bee's Lakiesha McGhee, (916) 773-7630.
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