UHS principal defends amphitheater location choice

By Megan Bakker
The Collegian

Replacing the amphitheater with the new University High campus will benefit everyone at Fresno State, said University High School principal Gerard Jones.

The University High School is gaining attention after Associated Students passed two resolutions regarding the school. One resolution states AS does not support the new location of the high school, planned to place the high school at the amphitheater near the Speech Arts building.

Jones is aware of the student objections to the project, and understands many of them.

“I know the facility we have planned will enhance that site,” Jones said.

“I thought that they [the objections] made a lot of sense,” he said, adding “but I think that there is some misinformation out there.”

He said there are many ways the new campus would benefit Fresno State, including the number of University High School students who enroll at Fresno State after graduation.

“They give back by being exemplary students,” Jones said. In addition, Fresno State’s teaching credential program often uses the high school for observation hours.

Jones said he hopes Fresno State will be able to use all the facilities in the new building. Fresno State will also get all the old University High buildings along the south side of Keats, which consists of about ten classrooms in all.

The idea that University High School is separate from Fresno State is untrue, Jones said.

“It’s too easy to see this as some foreign entity that was dropped on the university. We were conceived by the university,” Jones said.

The College of Arts and Humanities started University High School, with the mission of preparing students for college life. This includes students taking classes at Fresno State starting in the 10th grade, for both high school and college credit.

“Having the campus centrally located does help that mission of interfacing with the university,” Jones said. It also allows the students easy access to facilities like the library and USU.

At first many sites were proposed, all around the periphery of the campus. However, it was the College of Arts and Humanities that finally decided on using the old amphitheater.

“We were told ‘this is where you will put your high school,’” Jones said. Any of the buildings on the periphery would have needed major renovations, which with their $1.5 million budget was a major factor.
“Money spent on making a first-class facility would be eaten up by getting the correct wiring,” Jones said.

In February 2004, University High was awarded an additional $11 million grant from the state to improve their facilities. The plans for the new campus were site-specific, however, meaning that they couldn’t change sites without changing the plans for the entire building, at the cost of $750,000.

“Every time you raise [building] costs, you pull away from construction money,” Jones said.

As a Fresno State graduate himself, Jones says that he understands student’s feelings about the amphitheater.

“I know the amphitheater is iconic. There are a lot of fond memories about that amphitheater for a lot of students,” Jones said. He said it is similar to the construction around the old library. Even though he misses the old library, he said he knows the new one will benefit the campus much more.

“It does forever change the physiognomy of the campus” to have the amphitheater gone, he said.

Currently, University High School is waiting for final approval from the Department of Education in Sacramento for the new campus. They plan to break ground this summer and to have students in the building by sometime in 2007.

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