Encinitas Capri Elementary and the Dual Language Immersion program

Link to the real-time http://www.10news.com/news/30673638/detail.html

   In my opinion, I don't see how converting Capri to an all-Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program will save money. First Capri is a larger elementary school than 'Paul Ecke'. Leaving class rooms empty doesn't seem cost efficient. Even if they were able to fill all the classes, how are they going to get 25% to 50% Spanish speaking children to the campus? With Capri centrally located, I feel Capri is the best school to move the Paul Ecke English-speaking students to, only IF the plan was to convert schools because of how the Encinitas boundaries are layed out, to eliminate traffic congestion on Leucadia BLVD, and Capri being a larger school it can house more english speaking students.  Lets face it, there are more english speaking students because we speak english in America. This also would allow the DLI program to expand, and allow more children to enter this lottery-based program. This proposal seems to be more about expanding the DLI program than saving money. What will the Encinitas District do with all the rooms not being filled? It will be interesting to hear because there is no way that this program is large enough to fill all the classrooms even if the program was open to everyone.
  What I understand the challenge being is that the K3 through K6 DLI program are losing class room sizes because of families being relocated, and a few of the children aren't doing well in the program thus being pulled out of the program. Why not consolidate K3 to K6 from Paul Ecke to Capri or visa versa so the 27:1 ratio of students-to-teacher respectively are met by new requirements. Another challenge stated that having two schools running two small DLI programs are not cost effective and would be more effective if all were at one school. Lets find a solution without seperating English speaking students from DLI because we need the diversity in both schools to grow and learn from. To save "150K" to merge schools, when we have 3 to 5 Million $ educational budget cuts seems like a waste of time, and will cost  money to expand the DLI program. We can do possible 2-3 more fundraisers and raise the extra "150K"  so we can keep both schools as english speaking and DLI, and not have to move Capri students to Paul Ecke.
  I think having a dual language program is an awesome program and I do not want to see this program eliminated. I wanted my child to be enrolled and was #4 on the waiting list and did not get in so I am in favor of DLI but NOT at the expense of eliminating English speaking children from the school. It  would be sad to see the english speaking children have to be uprooted, and siblings seperated because of the phase out plan.  I hope we can come up with a positive solution to keep the DLI  programs at both schools, or convert Paul Ecke to be the master of DLI. It seems to me that this plan has nothing to do with saving money but to expand the DLI program. Expanding  the DLI program in both schools without eliminating and seperating the English speaking children, and keeping both schools English Speaking in my opinion is the best interest for all of our children. Lets find a solution that is in the best interest of our children. I don't think we have all of the facts, but we are learning more each day, especially now that we have been invited to an open forum where we can ask questions directly to the Board of Directors and Superintendent of Encinitas Union School District.

Mount Calavera's Vocanic 'Plug' - The History of Calavera Hills

The natural open space called Calavera is located in North San Diego County in the City of Carlsbad.  The area is bordered by the cities of Oceanside and Vista and lies approximately 2 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

The Word calavera means skull, which probably comes from the unusual shape of the area's centerpiece, Mount Calavera. The 513-ft Mount Calavera is not really a mountain at all but rather a 22 million-year-old- volcanic plug. A volcanic plug is a mass of volcanic rock that solidified in it's vent and feeding system millions of years ago. When the volcano becomes extinct and starts to erode away, the "plug" is all that is left behind.

ENCINITAS: City broke ground for pedestrian underpass for train track crossing

Still, surfers, joggers, bikers, and pedistrians cross train tracks near the local and cool spots of Encinitas because the legal route involves a 1.3 mile walk south to Chesterfield Dr., or a more than half mile walk north to E street. Encinitas has broke ground FINALLY Jan 18th on a pedistrian underpass that will allow beachgoers to reach Highway 101 from the Cardiff Bluffs. Construction on the roughly $5 million project should take eight to nine months to finish. The concrete underpass will have a 9-foot pedestrian clearance, in accordance to Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, and be 30 feet wide. The height of the track, however, will not increase.

The Santa Fe Drive crossing is the first of four underpasses planned throughout Encinitas. The city and the North County Transit District partnered on the underpasses after a legal settlement between the two agencies in 2002 regarding adding a second track for passing through the 1.7 miles of railroad in Encinitas. Encinitas sues the transit district over its plan to add the track but lost in federal court. Justin Fornelli, the transit district chief rail engineer, said the Santa Fe Drive under pass was chosen first due to its location near Swami's and the volume of track crossing.