Malcolm Brodrick, dean of administrative services at West Valley College, stands on the West Valley track. The district has included upgrading the track and football facility as a project it would undertake if voters pass Measure E. Among the improvements the district would like to make is the installation of permanent bleacher seats, since spectators sit on folding chairs to watch football and track events.




Photograph by Paul Myers







Bonding Experience

West Valley-Mission Community College district asks voters to approve Measure E

By Rebecca Ray
Photographs by Paul Myers

Teresa Reeve, a sophomore political science and sociology major at West Valley College, says that when she attends her math class in the mornings, she sees a "giant hole" in the ceiling, next to a hanging light fixture. "I'm pretty sure that one of these days, that sucker can come falling down and hurt somebody," she says. Also, she says, classes have had to be cancelled because of leaky roofs.

Reeve says that because of the conditions of campus buildings--some of which have existed since the college opened in 1964--she supports Measure E, which is on the March 5 ballot for residents of the West Valley-Mission Community College District.

The WV-MCC district is asking residents to pass the $268,653,000 general obligation bond to finance construction and renovation projects at both its colleges, West Valley College in Saratoga and Mission College in Santa Clara. In addition to adding and modernizing educational facilities, the district's bond project list includes making buildings more accessible for people with physical disabilities, bringing buildings up to current earthquake safety codes, upgrading technology and access to computers, improving building security systems and paying off construction loans.

"We're paying good money to be students here and get our education and help the community," Reeve said. "It's hard to get an education when the classrooms are falling apart."

However, when the district board of trustees voted to issue a bond measure in November 2001, Trustee Jeffrey Schwartz warned that they would encounter strong opposition from Saratoga residents. And he was right. Since the board voted to issue the bond, members of the West Valley Homeowners Association, an organization of South Bay homeowners, have urged residents to oppose it.

Included in the district's list of projects to be financed by the bond is one members of the association vehemently oppose--the district's proposed plans to upgrade its football and track venue at West Valley College. The district is proposing installing up to 3,500 permanent aluminum bench seats, lighting and sound systems, a permanent scoreboard, a press box, restrooms, landscaping and a snack bar at the facility, which has no permanent seating at this time.

Members of the association oppose the district's proposed plans because they see the modifications as creating more noise and traffic, which they believe would undermine the quality of life in Saratoga and lower property values.


Photograph by Paul Myers

Christine Peters, a biology instructor at WVC, opens the cadaver storage space at the college. Peters says she would like to replace the stationary shelves and curtain with rotating shelves and a cabinet, because trying to move cadavers from the top shelf poses a safety hazard.




The stadium issue has deep roots in Saratoga politics. When the city of Saratoga granted the college district a permit to build the West Valley campus, it did so with the condition that the school not build a sports stadium designed for large-scale public attendance at intercollegiate games or events. However, the district did excavate a bowl at the WVC campus where the track and football field are now located. Those attending events there sit on folding chairs.

In 1996, the city sued the district, claiming the college had breached its agreement with the city regarding the stadium. In 1998, the Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled in favor of the district, saying state educational facilities don't have to comply with local zoning laws if the venues are used for educational purposes .The city is now appealing that decision, and oral arguments, ironically, are set to be heard on March 5, the same day voters will decide on Measure E.

So contentious has the bond measure been in Saratoga that on Feb. 6, the city council voted to oppose Measure E, citing the stadium as the reason for its position.

Members of the homeowners association are also critical of the priority list drawn up by the district for how to spend Measure E money if the bond should pass, arguing that the list matches up almost perfectly with a poll done by the district and that priorities, therefore, are based on wishes as opposed to needs.

They also object to the fact that the measure does not include exemptions for low-income residents or senior citizens on fixed incomes. According to Victor Monia, who heads the homeowners association, the measure will cost taxpayers some $715 million total when interest over the life of the bond is included.

Jim Roth of Salomon Smith Barney Inc., the company that is analyzing bond capacity for the district, says that if voters pass the measure, homeowners and businesses will pay an estimated $14.07 per $100,000 of assessed valuation each year. This does not include interest, which won't be determined until the bond is issued. However, Roth says that current interest rates are estimated to be at about 5 percent, the lowest they've been in 40 years.

District officials have discussed issuing the bond in three series of about $90 million each, with the first series being issued in summer 2003. District officials also estimate that taxpayers would spend 40 years paying for the bond, Roth says.

Malcolm Brodrick, West Valley College dean of administrative services, walks through a chemistry classroom at West Valley College. The classroom has equipment from the 1960s and 1970s. The district hopes to obtain modern equipment with the passage of Measure E.




Photograph by Paul Myers







According to Ruth Carlson, district public affairs and community relations director, and Malcolm Brodrick, dean of administrative services, Measure E is the first local bond measure the district has sought. The measure will pass if 55 percent of the residents who vote on it approve it.

If Measure E passes, the district predicts that construction will begin in May 2003, after the district develops plans and receives approval from the Division of the State Architect. Carlson says that district officials formed the project list by spending two years conducting numerous surveys and receiving input from students, business partners and faculty, staff and community members. She adds that the district will complete projects based on priority, starting with health and safety projects.

The district identified making buildings more accessible for people with disabilities as one of its priorities, and estimates that it would cost $4 million to make sites more accessible at both schools. In a computer classroom at West Valley College, electrical wires and computer cables are encased in metal strips that lie across the center aisle, which is out of compliance with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. The strips hinder students in wheelchairs from moving to the front of the room to talk to the teacher, said Brodrick and Ian Abell, district facilities director. The room itself meets minimum ADA compliance standards, only because students can adjust the back table, and the table is near the entrance, Brodrick and Abell said.

The district also plans to spend $7 million on bringing buildings at both schools up to current earthquake safety codes. The district has identified reconstructing the administration of justice building at West Valley College as another priority, which they estimate would cost $1,882,000. Reconstructing the buildings on the West Valley campus would involve retaining the permanent structures, such as cement pillars, and remodeling the insides.

Christine Peters, biology instructor at West Valley, says she would like to see the district reconstruct the science and math building at the college. The district has identified this project--along with building a science and math addition and constructing a new technology center on the West Valley campus--as another priority. The district predicts that these projects will cost $31,841,100.

Peters says she would like to see cadavers, which students dissect, stored in a cabinet with rotating shelves, instead of on regular shelves behind a curtain. The top shelf is too high, which makes cadavers difficult to get, she says. She adds that two or three people have to move cadavers from the highest shelves, which is a safety hazard.

Also, Brodrick says, people know more about health hazards than they did in the 1960s and early 1970s, when many of the district buildings were built. The room where students dissect cadavers is the only ventilated room in the building, and fans blow formaldehyde gas fumes outside, where people passing by can smell them. Also, other colleges have vented dissection tables, so that students don't breathe the formaldehyde gas fumes, Peters says. Brodrick says he's particularly concerned about pregnant women breathing the fumes.


Photograph by Paul Myers

Members of the West Valley Student Senate, who support Measure E, hung posters and held a voter registration drive to encourage students to vote.




Peters says she would also like to see the district get containers that close over the cadavers. The containers would keep the bodies more moist between periods than the gauze the students now use. Also, the district wouldn't have to purchase cadavers, which cost about $2,000 apiece, as often, she says.

The district has also identified applying new topcoats to roofs at both colleges--which would extend the lives of the roofs five to eight years--and replacing mechanical systems at both schools. The district estimates that these projects would cost $7,330,000. Because the district uses dual-doc ventilation systems, buildings don't meet today's standards for fresh air, Abell says. After being inside the buildings for 15 to 20 minutes, people have gotten drowsy, and their allergies have acted up, according to Abell and Brodrick. Abell says that if Measure E passes, the district will get variable air volume systems, which are today's standard, and which would bring in more outside air. People stopped using dual-doc systems, which waste a lot of energy, during the energy crisis in the 1970s. Dual-doc systems are also inadequate, because energy is much more expensive than it was in the 1960s, Brodrick said.

Mark De Guzman, a fourth-year math major at West Valley, says that sometimes, when it's 65 degrees outside, it'll be 80 or 90 degrees inside classrooms. This is because the district will turn off the cooling system in colder weather, which can cause rooms to overheat, Abell and Brodrick said.

The district would like to spend $12 million on upgrading technology and access to computers at both schools. District officials say they would like more classrooms with computers and equipped with current technology, so that students can learn the skills for high-paying technology jobs.

District officials would like to spend $131,832,400 on repairing and renovating classrooms, labs and whatever else they deem to be instructional workspaces at both schools. When most of the classrooms were designed, district officials say, instructors' teaching styles involved lecturing to students. The facilities are inadequate for modern instructional methods, which involve students discussing material in groups, giving presentations and doing projects, district officials say.

If the bond passes, $5.5 million of the $131,832,400 could go toward athletic facilities at West Valley College, including the gymnasium, physical education classrooms, locker rooms and/or the football and track venue, Brodrick says.

District officials say they aren't sure how much of the $5.5 million would be used for the football and track venue since the board has not approved any plans for it.


Photograph by Paul Myers

Signs that urge voters to oppose Measure E line major streets in Saratoga, including Fruitvale Avenue, where the college is located.




Interior improvements that district officials would like to make include installing wires in floor receptacles, fixing leaky roofs and purchasing desks that can be adjusted so that users are less likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. District officials would like to replace patchwork carpeting with holes and snags and that's held together with duct tape and glue. The district would also like more storage space, adequate lighting and more ventilation in the art rooms, where students breathe paint fumes.

The district also would like to spend:

* $18,484,000 on replacing 30-year-old temporary classrooms with permanent facilities at Mission College;

* $7,600,000 on building new instructional facilities for high-tech, computer science and engineering job training programs at both schools;

* $22,425,000 on paying off loans for construction projects at Mission College;

* $6,480,000 on creating space at West Valley to house student support programs. This would involve reconstructing the "temporary" portable buildings the college has used since 1964;

* $12,950,000 on improving building security systems by installing new fire alarms, doors and monitoring devices at both colleges. Most of the rooms don't have sprinklers or smoke detectors;

* $4,832,800 on building a new child development center at West Valley that offers daycare and provides early childhood education for teachers.

Passage of Measure E would make the district eligible to receive state matching funds when they become available. Although the district's project list amounts to $268 million, the district has more projects it would like to complete, which amount to nearly $136 million.

Although the district receives money from the West Valley-Mission Land Corporation, which leases the land around Mission College to businesses, and from renting classrooms, the money isn't enough to pay the full cost of the district's repair, renovation and construction needs, district officials say. For the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the district estimates that it received about $3.4 million, according to Steven Kinsella, district vice chancellor.

The district's current budget is about $71,846,000, Brodrick said. About 84 percent of the district's budget is going toward salaries and benefits.

The district received about $255,000 for deferred maintenance for this school year, when Gov. Gray Davis restored one-third of the deferred maintenance money that he had previously cut for community colleges.

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