A dispute between the San Ysidro School District and the Border View YMCA has been resolved, district officials said Monday.
Last week, school district officials called the nonprofit agency, and told them a nearly $500,000 annual contract for the organization to provide before and after school childcare on San Ysidro campuses would not be renewed.
The reason?
Superintendent Manuel Paul said he wanted to pull the plug on the arrangement because he discovered the site's board president is Art Castañares, a former contractor who is suing the district for $17.9 million over a cancelled solar panel project.
"Our legal counsel advised us that we could not continue the program with the YMCA while the lawsuit was ongoing," Paul said. "It was not in our best interest to go with someone who had an interest in the YMCA contract and was suing the district at the same time."
NBC San Diego first contacted district officials early Monday morning about the dust-up. At that time, Paul said that if Castañares would resign his position with the Border View YMCA board, the superintendent would continue the contract with the YMCA.
Paul said he had no plans in place for a different agency to care for the 802 children during the before and after-school hours while many parents are still working. The year-round school district is on a summer break, but classes begin again July 25.
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"We have no problems with Border View YMCA. They've given us very good service," Paul said.
The superintendent met with YMCA officials Monday afternoon. He said he was told Castañares' role in the organization is an advisory one only and that he has no fiduciary responsibility over contracts the YMCA oversees.
"If that's the case, I don't have a problem," Paul said.
Castañares said the superintendent was trying to intimidate him into dropping his lawsuit by threatening to cancel Border View's contract, where he serves as a volunteer. He said the district's contract with the YMCA is unrelated to the legal dispute between his solar company and San Ysidro schools.
"It's unfortunate that the school district tried to use kids as leverage in a lawsuit that has uncovered the administration's illegal activities," Castañares said.
According to the contractor's six-page complaint against the district filed April 5, officials quashed a $17.9 million contract with Castañares' company, Manzana Energy, late last year without explaining why. The district contends the company did not perform.
The solar panels were first planned for installation in 2008, but none have been put into place.
Under the deal, San Ysidro schools agreed to buy power generated by the panels from Manzana Energy over 25 years for a flat fee of $17.9 million. Manzana was to buy and install the panels, which would have generated about 70 percent of the schools' power needs, and saved energy costs.
Because the solar panels were never installed, school district funds were never spent on the endeavor.
The seven-school district serves about 5,200 students in kindergarten through eighth-grade.
The Border View YMCA is a South County nonprofit that serves children from the South County communities of Nestor, Otay Mesa, San Ysidro and Imperial Beach. The agency operated for 27 years just on school campuses until opening an $8.1 million home on Arey Drive last year.
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