(May 20)  With the sands in Gary Ovitt’s hourglass as Fourth District county supervisor running down, this week he made a gesture to his constituency by routing $220,000 in county money to two of the public educational institutions in his district.
With the consent of all five of the county board of supervisors’ members, the county passed the aforementioned sum of money to the Chaffey Joint Union High School District to undertake three improvement projects at Chaffey and Ontario high schools.
Of the $220,000, $142,000 was provided to fund a new sound and projection system for the Hill Auditorium at the Chaffey High School Campus; another $50,000 was appropriated to fund a new sound system for the Ontario High School Gymnasium; and $28,000 was provided to fund the refurbishment of Payne Field at Chaffey High School. Payne Field is the historic baseball diamond at Chaffey High.
The item providing the funding was brought to the board by county CEO Greg Devereaux.
According to Devereaux, “As part of the 2011-12 budget process, the board set aside an allocation for each of the five supervisorial districts to finance unbudgeted local needs as identified throughout the fiscal year.
One such project identified by the Fourth District involves providing funding to the Chaffey Joint Union High School District to fund various improvements at various district facilities.”
Ovitt was a teacher at Chaffey High School. In addition, current chairwoman of the board of supervisors, Janet Rutherford, is a graduate of Ontario High School.
“The Chaffey Joint Union High School District serves the communities of Ontario, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga, and portions of Fontana, Upland, Chino, and Mount Baldy. With over 25,000 students, the district is the fourth largest high school district in California,” Devereaux said. “The district offers a wide variety of  instructional options that provide a quality education for each student, every day. The district’s well-prepared, dedicated, and highly qualified teachers and support personnel are second to none.”