March 28, 1989, Mike Vail, Director, Facilities Planning, CUSD - Determination that the project will not have a significant effect on the environment

March 28, 1989, Mike Vail, Director, Facilities Planning, CUSD - "The proposed project will not have a significant adverse effect on the environment; therefore, it does not require the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report."

May 25, 1989, Mike Vail, Director, Facilities Planning, CUSD - Project: Development and construction of RSM K-6 school, approved by Board of Trustees on May 25, 1989

June 1, 1999 - Provides CUSD with non-exclusive limited use of Arroyo Vista Park ball field #1 and the picnic table area only.  This Agreement expired on August 31, 2003.

February 2001 - Final Report District Strategic Plan - Note Strategy 16, School Facilities, Objective #2 at page 20: Reorganize school facilities to accommodate the K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade organization. The Arroyo Vista K-8 conversion is not included in CUSD's strategic plan?

August 9, 2002 - Original letter that exposed CUSD secret plan to expand and convert Arroyo Vista into a 1,500 student K-8

August 9, 2002 - Publicly announcing plans to expand Arroyo Vista Elementary School. With the submittal of CSRSM's letter to the editor, O.C. Register investigated and provided the first press report regarding the possible conversion of Arroyo Vista School to a K-8. The Register covered the emergency parent meeting called by CUSD's Fleming and Doomey in which they reveal publicly for the first time, their plans for a 1,500 student K-8.

November 12, 2002 - This single day traffic study was conducted at off-peak hours. CUSD Staff (David Doomey) used this study to convince CUSD Trustees that there would be no impact to the Arroyo Vista community resulting from the K-8 expansion. Doomey did this by stating that the traffic study shows a Level of Service "A" (or NO impact) even after the K-8 conversion. This traffic study assumed 5 children per car for commuting purposes. Stated there was a traffic signal at Las Mesitas and Arroyo Vista even though there wasn't. This study was so severely flawed, Gary Thompson, then Mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita was quoted, accurately calling the traffic study, "a worthless piece of paper."

March 10, 2003 - Item 31, K-8 School Grade Level Configuration: Consideration and conceptual approval, K-8 grade level configuration for possible future implementation at selected District school sites.

March 10, 2003, Austin Buffum, Deputy Superintendent, Education - Conceptual Report: K-8 School Grade Level Configuration; Outlines CUSD’s rationale for adopting a K-8 philosophy for the District. Exhibits A-I referenced in the staff report were not made readily available to the public.

March 10, 2003 - Confirms that the Board of Trustees gave conceptual approval of K-8 Grade Level Configuration for possible future implementation at school sites throughout the District

March 10, 2003 - Confirms action taken was approval of K-8 concept only and that decisions to implement K-8 at aparticular schools would follow. Also confirms "... there are no plans to take away the use of any community park."

March 14, 2003 - First time Fleming states that the 1,500 student enrollment number for Arroyo Vista that he previously announced (as reported in the O.C. Register), is incorrect.

March 17, 2003 - CUSD (Fleming) issues a response to CSRSM's March 2003 letter which included the 800+ petition signatures. Fleming refutes CSRSM's claims as follows: (a) "There will be minimal impact, if any, on the school playground area." Contrast this statement with CUSD's draft EIR (p. 123) where CUSD states that it intends to eliminate 13% of the existing playground area to add more buildings; (b) Fleming disputes CSRSM's claim that this conversion will allow CUSD to increase capacity at Arroyo Vista to 1500 students. Note: While CUSD has offered to cap enrollment at 1050 students, CUSD's draft EIR states that this cap is not binding on future Boards (see p. 30 of draft EIR). In fact, CUSD claims existing EIR's provide a cap of 1202 students. With Class 14 exemptions, CUSD will have the ability (without further environmental analysis) to increase capacity by 25%, up to 1503 students; (c) Regarding use of Arroyo Vista Park, Fleming states, "In other words, the use of the park would neither be increased nor decreased from the practice which has been in place for the past ten years." CUSD's draft EIR proposes to expand their existing Joint Use Agreement to include 2 ball fields rather than the 1 they previously had access to, expands hours of park usage from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM, increases use ... for middle school physical education classes; (d) Fleming states that traffic and noise will not increase significantly with the K-8 expansion. The draft EIR states both traffic and noise will be impacted to unacceptable levels unless mitigation efforts are implemented. The draft EIR offers NO mitigation for the unacceptable noise levels that will occur. QUESTION: Who has been deceiving the public and spreading misinformation for the past 15 months?

April 7, 2003 - CUSD attempts to set the record straight. Instead the charges leveled against CUSD's expansion plan, not CUSD's responses in this Media Watch statement have proven to be true since this article first appeared on CUSD's website. (a) CUSD says: "There will be minimal impact, if any, on the school playground area." Contrast this statement with CUSD's draft EIR (p. 123) where CUSD states that it intends to eliminate 13% of the existing playground area to add two-story portables; (b) CUSD disputes the claim that this conversion will allow CUSD to increase capacity at Arroyo Vista to 1500 students. Note: While CUSD has offered to cap enrollment at 1050 students, CUSD's draft EIR states that this cap is not binding on future Boards (see p. 30 of draft EIR). In fact, per CUSD's draft EIR, the actual cap approved for Arroyo Vista is 1202 students. With Class 14 exemptions (which CUSD has previously used 4 times at Arroyo Vista), CUSD will have the ability (without further environmental analysis) to increase capacity by 25%, up to 1503 students; (c) Regarding use of Arroyo Vista Park, CUSD states, "In other words, the use of the park would neither be increased nor decreased from the practice which has been in place for the past ten years." CUSD's draft EIR proposes to expand their existing Joint Use Agreement to include the use of 2 ball fields rather than the 1 field they were previously allowed access to, expands hours of park usage from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM, increases use ... for daily middle school physical education classes; (d) CUSD states that traffic and noise will not increase significantly with the K-8 expansion. The draft EIR states both traffic and noise will be impacted to unacceptable levels unless mitigation efforts are implemented. While CUSD proposes mitigation measures intended to relieve traffic congestion, the draft EIR acknowledges there will be unacceptable noise levels, but offers NO mitigation to remedy this problem. Question: Who has been deceiving the public for the past 15 months?

April 12, 2003 - CUSD’s “Media Watch” states that the parent meeting is being held to discuss the possible conversion of Arroyo Vista to a K-8 school.

April 17, 2003 - Fleming invites parents to participate in a telephone survey about possible interest in a K-8 school, but only invites existing K-4th grade parents to respond. CUSD chooses not to solicit input from the RSM community.

June 2, 2003, Media Watch, CUSD Website - CUSD’s own “Media Watch” announces the change to the March 10th Board meeting from a discussion on the Arroyo Vista conversion to a presentation on why CUSD should adopt a “K-8 philosophy” for the District. (Note: see page 6 of 6)