Last month, the Sweetwater Union High School District held its board meeting on the campus of Chula Vista High School.
The meeting on Sept. 4 was at Montgomery High School.
And the school board meeting for October is tentatively scheduled at Otay Ranch High School, although nothing is finalized yet, said district spokesman Manny Rubio.
Typically the monthly meetings take place in the board room at the district office at 1130 Fifth Ave. in Chula Vista.
But recent concern over a lack of space are one reason why the district decided to take the meetings on the road.
“The drawback of the board room that we have at the district office is that it is just too small,” said temporary trustee Mark Anderson.
“And from what I hear from a lot of people, in just from the short time that I’ve been on the board, that’s a big issue.
I mean you’ve got people waiting outside. It’s just a small room.”
Kevin O’ Neill, a candidate for the Sweetwater school board and a regular attendee at board meetings, said he enjoyed last month’s meeting at Chula Vista High School.
“The difference between the existing board room and the Chula Vista Performing Arts Center is night and day,” he said.
O’Neill said at the performance center there was plenty of parking, the sound system was clear and the space was just roomier compared to the district’s board room.
Depending on the site, the meetings are conducted in either a school’s performing arts center or in the auditorium.
Anderson said the school auditorium could also be too big for board meetings.
Rubio said hosting board meetings away from the district office is beneficial because it spotlights the schools in the district.
“I think it was for the board to kind of get out into the community; it was really the idea to bring the board meetings to them,” Rubio said.
Anderson added that school board meeting held in different neighborhoods gives people who wouldn’t normally attend the meeting a chance for them to attend.
