By Mary-Justine Lanyon
There was a festive atmosphere at the June 4 meeting of the Rim of the World Unified School District board of trustees. The occasion? A celebration of the retirement of 12 district employees.
Their total service to the Rim district is 275 years. They were teachers, instructional aides, a librarian, a custodian.
The retirees include David Meigide, 28 years; Deborah Bennett, 20 years; Kathy Sayer, 26 years; Kathy Dubois, 32 years; Darlyn Phillips, 31 years; Lynn Klopfer, 19 years; Sherry Houston-Brown, 3 years; Carl Uhrmann, 30 years; Cynthia Parker, 31 years; Barbara Berteaux, 19 years; Robin Love, 8 years; and Brian Golding, 28 years.
Each retiree’s principal or department head shared a few words about them as they presented them with an award honoring their years of service. The board then recessed for a celebration with cupcakes.
That celebration was followed by a presentation from the San Bernardino Community College District, represented by Trustee Carlos Aguilera, who lives in Crestline, and Dr. Diana Rodriguez, the chancellor.
Dr. Rodriguez shared a video detailing the district’s last 100 years. It was created in 1926 with San Bernardino Valley College opening in 1927 and Crafton Hills College in 1972.
“We have stayed the affordable college option in the region,” Dr. Rodriguez said. Their tuition and fees, she said, are six times less expensive than a Cal State University and 16 times less expensive than one of the University of California campuses.
Where are they heading in the next 100 years? They are planning for new classrooms, new labs and new student spaces. “Let the next century begin – we’re ready,” she said. “We want our classrooms and labs prepared for the students not just for today but for what they will need in the future.
“The community trusts us with their education, with their family members. The business community trusts us to train a skilled workforce. We serve nearly 30,000 students across both colleges – and growing.”
The trustees, Dr. Rodriguez noted, created four goals: (1) Eliminate barriers to student access and success. (2) Be a diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist institution. (3) Be a leader and partner in addressing regional issues. (4) Ensure fiscal accountability and sustainability.
Three areas of focus are of importance to the district: healthcare, including their nursing program, respiratory care and radiology technology; emergency response – firefighting, public safety, emergency medical technicians; skilled trades – welders, electricians, construction trades.
But they also focus on providing the first two years of core college classes at an affordable price. They have agreements with all the Cal States, many of the UCs and the private colleges in the area for students to transfer after those two years, taking their credits with them.
Aguilera added that “affordability is #1. You cannot beat our education. We have incredible professors.”
Cindy Gardner, president of the Rim board of trustees, noted that Rim has “a great pathway from our high school, especially to Crafton Hills.”
Trustee Dr. Bill Mellinger added that “there is no more cost-effective education than to go to a community college, Don’t lose sight of that. People will use you as a stepping stone to a four-year school.”
As the presentation came to an end, Dr. Rodriguez said they hope to offer dual enrollment with every high school in their district starting in 10th grade. By taking one or two classes a semester, she noted, by the time a student graduates from high school they could have finished one year of college.
Under action items, the board approved the purchase of three electric mini school buses at a cost of $244,677.93 from Measure E funds. Five of the current buses in the Special Needs minibus fleet are more than 20 years old.
“We’re still confident these buses will work up here?” Trustee Mellinger asked. “It’s a test,” was Gardner’s reply. Chief Business Official Jenny Haberlin said they will collect data on how long the charges last.
And on the personnel page under the consent calendar, the board approved the hiring of Hailey Corse as the new principal of Rim of the World High School, effective July 1.
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