Letter: YC school board member questioned

Yuba City Unified School District's enrollment has declined since Riverbend School was built, which was opened specifically to relieve overcrowding at Barry School. Barry now has excess capacity, but it appears our district is actively seeking to acquire acres of additional land on the east properly line of Barry, which is now for sale.

To the point, our local board approved a $7,500 contract to perform geotechnical engineering tests/samples on that land, which the district does not yet own, or has it put a formal offer upon.

Seems a little out of order here. But the really interesting fact is the real estate firm listing that property is Meagher & Tomlinson Co.

Interesting because the senior school board member of YCUSD's Facilities Committee who is leading the effort to expand the Barry campus is Fred Northern. Interesting because Northern is a vice president of the Meagher and Tomlinson real estate firm. Interesting because Northern directly voted to approve the geotech contract at the Nov. 27 board meeting.

One single question: No matter what the reasoning behind this exploration into expanding the size of our Barry campus, wouldn't it be proper and expected for Northern to exclude himself from any action of any sort that may be related to this, since he stands to profit personally if this property is purchased? Our government is under financial distress because we haven't paid enough attention. Pay attention now.

Steven Plaxco

Yuba City