Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorials

Parents ask school to back them up

School administrators aren't likely to be enthusiastic about the Los Gatos High School football coach's proposal to institute drug testing for members of his team.

It raises issues of trust and privacy and, probably, civil rights. It's likely to outrage students. We'll be surprised if the school district's attorney doesn't warn board members they're treading in dangerous waters if they approve testing.

For the board, it would be easy to just say no to the parents and the coach.

Still, we can't help saying hats off to those parents who are facing up to the fact that drugs and alcohol are a problem for their children--and asking the school to help them.

In fact, it's about time.

It makes sense for parents to come together in a cooperative effort as some have done over the summer--and then go to the school and say: "This is how you can support our efforts."

Schools too often end up playing parent by default. What we've seen in the past is the local high school turning to the Police Department for help in ferreting out those who use and deal drugs on campus.

Undercover cops on campus seem much more invasive than urine tests for football players who sign an agreement that, as part of their eligibility, they will not use drugs, alcohol or tobacco during football season.

Athletes--and football players, in particular--have long enjoyed a privileged status. They are high-school heroes, often held up as role models. Adults like to point to participation in athletics as the healthy alternative to drugs and alcohol.

But what young people know is that football heroes maintain their status by blocking well, running hard and making touchdowns--not by keeping promises they've made on a flimsy piece of paper.

Finally, a group of parents is set to engage the high-school administration and the school board in a serious discussion about how they can work together to make the high-school years safer and saner for young people.

It's about time.

PG&E's bright idea

The summer of 1996 will be remembered throughout the western United States as the summer the lights--and the fans and the air-conditioners and the computers--went out.

But in Los Gatos, many utility users are still smarting about December 1995, the winter the lights went out--and stayed out, in some cases--for weeks.

The town has been nagging PG&E about improving power here ever since.

Now PG&E is considering building a substation on Winchester Boulevard near Lark Avenue.

With the Public Utilities Commission embroiled in such hot issues as deregulation and the national power grid, the fact that some Los Gatans spent 20 days without power during a winter storm may not seem earthshakingly important.

But as anyone who has lived with a freezer full of soggy food knows, the time has long passed when an erratic supply of electricity is acceptable.

Los Gatos has lived with an antiquated delivery system for too long. The town may pride itself on its Victorian charm, but gaslights no longer illuminate the streets.