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Volume 31 Number 25
BY KAREN BILLING The Rancho Santa Fe Association is ready to move with the sale of the house on the Osuna property. The board voted on March 1 to go ahead with the sale as all the conditions of the lot split have been met. A request for proposals (RFP) will now be sent out to local real estate firms to find someone to represent the Association in the selling of the 3.3-acre property. Jim Putnam, a member of the finance committee, said that after reviewing what likeproperties have sold for in the Ranch he estimates the Osuna house could fetch anywhere from $1.8 million to $2.5 million. The RSF Association could also include, as part of the sale, additional property down below the home that is not currently in use by the horse facility. Adding the additional land would not require another lot split but just a boundary adjustment, RSF Association Manager Pete Smith said. As the result of a request from director Roxana Foxx, who is the board liason on the finance committee, Putnam also reviewed the horse facility that runs on the rest of the property’s 24.6 acres. “It really is doing as well as could be expected. The fees are the highest level in the area, it’s 100 percent occupied and the boarders are happy,” said Putnam. He said the only caution flags are that some of the buildings are very old and that one fence is down near the Valenti property.
Guests enjoyed an evening of comedy and fundraising at the Rancho Santa Fe Unit of Rady Children’s Hospital Auxiliary’s 2012 gala benefit held March 3 at The Grand Del Mar. The event featured fabulous cuisine, a silent/live auction, the comedy of Dennis Miller, and dancing until midnight — all in support of Rady Children’s Hospital, Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. (Above) The Gala Committee of the Rancho Santa Fe Unit of Rady Children’s Hospital Auxiliary: (L-R) Tiffany Catledge, Gabrielle Oratz, Kimberly King, Cindy Leonard, Gina Jordan, Michele Stephens, Shaunna Kahn (Gala Chair), Ally Wise Harney, Sandra den Uijl, Roni McGuire, Karen Ventura, Leslie DeGoler, Lesa Thode. For more, see pages 14-15. Photos/Jon Clark
Students prepare for College Board’s AP exams BY MARSHA SUTTON Advanced Placement classes originated decades ago as a way for gifted high school students to take college-level courses in fields for which they had passion and talent. Today, AP classes are open to all students and have gained in popularity, particularly in highachieving districts where students compete for coveted spots in selective colleges that give weight to the number of AP classes taken. A standardized curriculum for AP classes is
provided by College Board, a not-for-profit organization that holds exclusive rights to Advanced Placement coursework and the AP examinations, which are tests administered every year in May to assess each AP student’s comprehension of the material. This year, College Board offers 34 AP exams, from Art History to World History. Languages include French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and Latin. Science and math coursework includes physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, calculus and sta-
tistics. Exams also test achievement in European history, world history, United States history, government, economics, psychology and other social sciences. Although not required, the AP exams are considered mandatory by many students, and also by teachers, most of whom expect their students to take the test. Many teachers and district staff review the AP pass rate each year to gauge student achievement.
March 8, 2012
Two board votes move high school district closer to school repairs and upgrades
‘A Night with Dennis Miller’
RSF Association board agrees to move ahead with sale of Osuna property
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID RSF, CA PERMIT 1980
College Board’s price of each exam is $87, unless a low-income student qualifies for a fee reduction. Eight dollars of the $87 fee is given back to districts, to cover overhead. Deborah Davis, College Board’s director of college readiness communications, said in an email that the exam fees, which some criticize as too high, enable College Board to manage the AP program’s ongoing development and operations. “In 2011, AP exam fees covered the operational See AP, page 22
BY MARSHA SUTTON Bond issues pertaining to improvements at Torrey Pines High School and at schools district-wide were passed by the San Dieguito Union High School District’s Board of Education on March 1. With the school board’s approval to issue $2 million in lease revenue bonds for Torrey Pines, three projects will move forward. Two projects will replace heating, ventilation and air conditioning units and provide roof repair at one building for $450,000 and at another for $302,000. The third project is the replacement of the synthetic field at TPHS for a cost of $1.25 million. The bonds would have an eight-year term with interest-only payments in the first three years, after which level interest and principal payments would be made. Unlike General Obligation bonds which are backed up by special taxes on property owners, “the ultimate backstop for lease revenue bonds is the district’s general fund,” according to the agenda report. The total principal amount of the bonds would be $2.5 million, with about $2 million available for the projects. After including various funding sources, the estimated cost to the district to issue the bonds is about $200,000. Eric Dill, SDUHSD’s associate superintendent of business services, told the board the principal paySee UPGRADES, page 21
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