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Letters
Article calls for more questions of district
The informative article in the Jan. 31 issue of the Saratoga News regarding the $6 million shortfall in the budget for Saratoga Unified School District's modernization project provokes questions that beg to be answered.
Unauthorized Additions: The Superintendent again uses the bogus argument that the ballot word number limit prevented SUSD from informing the voters of all that it planned to do with Measure D funds. In the "Argument in Favor" section of the voter information pamphlet supplied with the sample ballot, where no such word limit applies, the President of the SUSD Board of Trustees provided a detailed list. Why did this list not have the items SUSD knew it planned to include in the project?
The Superintendent says that the bond measure was based upon the SUSD Master Plan, which included these additions. Why weren't the voters made aware of the existence and the content of the Master Plan during the election campaign?
Mustn't there be some other reason why SUSD did not mention new administration buildings, new multi-purpose buildings, new kindergarten rooms, relocating daycare facilities, and installing air conditioning? Could the old rumor be true that the distant SUSD did not mention these items for fear of jeopardizing passage of the bond measure?
Matching Funds: The SUSD Superintendent says that the shortfall is primarily due to the State having provided only $2.7 million of the $9 million SUSD expected. SUSD reported in March 2000 that it was eligible for $7.25 million. However, SUSD subsequently submitted lower projected enrollment numbers, which reduced that amount. Why was SUSD counting on receiving $9 million?
The State Office of Public School Construction was only able to provide matching funds for applications submitted by early April 2000. Since SUSD had submitted just a few of its applications by then, SUSD knew as of April 2000 that it could not count on additional matching funds.
Why had SUSD taken so long after the June 1997 approval of the bond measure to submit its applications?
Shouldn't SUSD have scaled back its plans when it became aware of the shortfall in matching funds? Why didn't SUSD drop its plans to build the new administration buildings, the new multi-purpose buildings, and the new kindergarten rooms, which the voters had not authorized? Why did SUSD demolish the serviceable multi-purpose building at Argonaut and relocate the day care facilities at Argonaut and Foothill, none of which had been authorized by the voters?
Foundation "Surprise": Another contributor to the shortfall was the "surprise" during construction of finding a $2.8 million problem with the 75+ year old foundation at Saratoga School. What sort of a design outfit would not have discovered this problem by inspecting the foundation at the very beginning of the design process?
New Classrooms: The Superintendent states that fewer classrooms will need to be built at Argonaut and Foothill because 16 new classrooms have been built at Saratoga School. The voters authorized only the nine specified for that school in campaign literature, so why were 16 built, particularly considering the need for nine was based upon a projected increase in enrollment that has since been reduced?
Turner Construction has reportedly been given to understand that SUSD has dropped its plans to construct two new classroom buildings at Argonaut. If this happens, instead of having six more classrooms, Argonaut will be left with four fewer than it had before this project began.
How thrilled will parents in the Argonaut and Foothill communities be who have to transport their children to the Saratoga School, adding to and contending with the traffic congestion around that school, because SUSD didn't build the voter authorized new classrooms at their local schools? Are we to forget that new classrooms were the only authorized new facilities? Can SUSD assure us that there will be no need for portable classrooms when all the Measure D funds have been spent?
Corrective Action: Isn't it incumbent on SUSD to adjust to the shortfall by using the remaining funds on what the voters authorized and dropping the unauthorized items? Would the community rather have classrooms to provide educational value for the children or extravagant new administration buildings?
Wesley I. Ferguson
Chateau Drive
College board dismisses residents at meeting
On Feb. 1, more than 30 Saratoga residents appeared at the West Valley College Board Meeting. We filled all the available seats and the adjacent hall. Four individuals addressed the board, asking them to honor their commitment to the city not to build a football stadium on this campus, and not to cut down mature oaks and other trees on campus without obtaining permits. They also asked why they dumped a very large amount of concrete rubble into the creek on campus without permits from the Department of Fish and Game and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The chancellor, both college presidents and the board members sat in stony silence. Not one word of response was uttered. No questions, no explanations, no suggestion that an issue be agendized for discussion or action. Nothing but silence, impatience and a demand that we come to the podium and speak together (presumably to get this over with more quickly). Many of us said we felt too intimidated to speak.
However, two days later, at a public meeting on the college district budget, Saratoga resident and former Saratoga City Council Member and Mayor, Don Wolfe, had plenty to say. His comments included the opinion that he "felt sorry" for these neighbors who were "victims of misinformation and misguided.
But there is a larger question: Is this Mr. Wolfe's idea of public service? He campaigned for the governing board, promising to oppose a stadium at the college. Is this man fit to represent Saratogans on the West Valley College Board?
As a Saratoga resident, I am outraged that the college has destroyed wonderful stands of trees for no reason, has trashed out a pristine creek and is planning on turning this community into a noisy, more traffic-plagued place instead of doing their job--that is, education.
Mr. Wolfe should be asked directly how he is serving this community.
Cheriel Jensen
Quito Road
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
