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Smell that? There's something expensive in the air.

Drives me crazy to hear something like I did this morning – that the stands for the fans are uninhabitable at Gilroy High’s Garcia-Elder Stadium – this, just before the start of football season for GHS, Christopher High and Gavilan College. This, after the school district had to move graduation ceremonies – those are in June by the way – because of these same “unsafe” bleachers. What got done in between? This is yet another example of why I strongly believe that school district’s need to hire an on-staff project management director that has a background in construction – someone who can tell b.s. from reality and can come up with solutions. The person would be independent from, but wori with the facilities manager who is in charge of maintaining and operating facilities. What school districts need to do is: 1. Form an advisory facility committee composed of members from the business and construction world; 2. Hire a staff administrative-level project construction management person to oversee all facilities projects. That person would negotiate contracts and have, as clients, the taxpayers and the school district. If districts would make those changes, a lot of money would be saved and a lot of battles avoided. And, really, when you’re talking about spending millions of dollars in bond money and getting the best bang for the buck, doesn’t it make perfect sense?

Q: I was shocked to learn that Dana Reeve, the late Christopher

SAN JOSE

Wanted to quickly address the near-brawl during last Friday night's basketball game between Christopher High and North Monterey County. As I reported before, the benches cleared after a hard foul was committed on Christopher's DJ Campos midway through the second quarter of a Cougars 67-25 win. (Read the story) Players from both teams began pushing and shoving one another and the situation was about to be sorted out when the benches emptied – an obvious no-no – and fans went wild, hooting and hollering. Luckily no punches were thrown - at least I didn't see any - and the game continued fight-free the rest of the way.

On a warm spring afternoon 22 years ago, my dad and I sat chatting on the lawn outside a clinic where my mother, who suffered from early onset Alzheimer’s Disease, was having an MRI. My dad had been her caregiver for nearly 10 years. During a lull in our conversation, he took his worn leather wallet from his pocket and, from between two old photographs, he pulled out a lock of hair. “I think it’s time I told you about Helen…” he began.