A DMUSD parent recently published a letter to the Del Mar Times regarding the DMUSD's tardiness in procuring a site for the district offices.
In her letter, Ms. Takahashi writes:
May of 2010 is when the District Office's rent on the Shores property increases 30,000-fold. Instead of paying $1 a year, DMUSD will be paying $30,000 a year from its general fund (the same general fund that pays teachers' salaries) to use the dilapidated office on 9th Street in Del Mar.
It was no secret that the lease payments would increase from $1 a year to $30,000 a year starting year 3 post-escrow. Members White, Easton, and McDowell were there.
May of 2010 is the date when the lease payments to the City of Del Mar increase from $1 to $30,000 annually, and it is true that members White, Easton, and McDowell were aware of this.
What the letter neglects to point out is that escrow on the Shores property closed on May 15, 2008 and that the original lease with the City of Del Mar was a 3-year lease, to expire in May 2011, 11 months from now.
The original lease specifies rent payments of $1 per year for the first two years, to increase to $30,000 annually in May 2010. There is still a year remaining on the original lease negotiated with the City of Del Mar.
On March 1st, former DMUSD superintendent Sharon McClain wrote a letter to the City of Del Mar requesting an extension on the lease of the Del Mar Shores property from May 15, 2011 to August 30, 2012.
McClain requested that the $30,000 annual payment be converted to a monthly payment at the end of the term of the original lease in May 2011, with a 60-day notice to vacate.
The preschool/childcare program currently housed at the Winston school would be vacated by the end of the original lease, May 2011. Maintenance and operation sheds would be vacated by June 30, 2011, to coincide with the end of the school year.
McClain also stated that the intent of the district was to move during the 2011/2012 school year.
The need to find a new site for DMUSD district offices should be a high priority to DMUSD trustees, but the $30,000 payment to the City of Del Mar for May 2010 to May 2011 is already part of the agreement negotiated back in the summer of 2007.
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