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Letters
School board decisions rigorously reviewed
After reading recent letters concerning Measure L, I would like our community to better understand the role of the school board and its decision making processes. As a former member of the board of the Saratoga Union School District, I have experienced both the joys and the challenges of serving our schools.
Members of the board are elected officials we Saratoga voters entrust with the guidance of our school district. Board members spend countless hours ensuring our district provides our children with the best educational experience possible. Decisions are made with the learning needs of the students of the Saratoga Union School District as first priority. At the same time, the board takes into account the needs and interests of its teachers, administrators, and the larger community, seeking common ground when conflicts arise.
I am confident our Saratoga School Board followed a rigorous process in reaching decisions about Measure D, our 1997 bond initiative. As their individual integrity demands and legal obligations require, board members carefully considered the short- and long-term budget implications, the impact on student education, as well as the impact on our community.
Our school board's decision-making process invites public comment, solicits input from all those concerned, listens to expert counsel, publicly discusses and deliberates pros/cons and alternatives, publicly analyzes short- and long-term economic implications, and, using all the input collected, board members reach individual decisions and publicly vote.
Today, as we experience the impact of these decisions, it is easy to question, evaluate and criticize the actions taken! Instead, let us acknowledge how impossible it is to please everyone, especially our community members who have traffic in new areas or driveways and buildings where once were green fields.
In an area where a remodel or teardown is in every neighborhood, who can be surprised at expensive problems found beneath layers of sheet rock, or be shocked when costs exceed projections, especially when we delayed construction and were competing with projects in other school districts?
It is time we move ahead and complete the much-needed renovation of our schools. Let us envision a future where our children are learning in an environment that provides an optimum educational experience and creates lifelong learners. This is the essence of Measure L! Please join me in supporting Measure L.
Mary Ellen Comport
Former SUSD board member
WVC not a college, but big, growing 'company'
Today West Valley College is a California state college that happens to be located in our community and therefore should not be funded with local school bonds. Over time state laws have explicitly separated community colleges from their K-12 roots and turned them into businesses serving the state and the public.
The state pays WVC to carry out a large number of mandated functions, including infusing education into welfare and other social programs sponsored by the state. Furthermore, the state pays more if the college can grow its enrollment. To generate required income, WVC knows it must increase its share of the public that take courses. But its local service area alone cannot produce the market share that's needed.
Therefore, in the late 1980s, aggressive recruitment of students outside the original boundaries of the district was undertaken, and WVC now offers courses to practically all interested students, wherever they are.
The fact is, West Valley is best viewed as a big and growing company (that provides high- quality educational services) located in the middle of a Saratoga residential area. A major problem is that this growing company does not want to follow Saratoga ordinances, and even forced a lawsuit in this regard. It's well documented that WVC believes it no longer has to honor agreements it made that were fundamental to getting permission to build its campus in Saratoga.
James E. Burke, Ph.D.
Angus Court
Private donations the way to fund skatepark
I am writing about a cartoon that was in the Saratoga News on Feb. 13. The cartoon showed a skateboarder who was ruining property and doing other illegal things. I think that skateboarders are being portrayed as criminals and they really are not.
They simply have no other place in the area to go and skateboard. Even if skateboarders are ruining property, they should have to pay for it instead of getting publicly embarrassed in the newspaper.
I have a solution for the problem: The city should get together and put an ad in the Saratoga News that asks for donations for a skateboard park.
I would support this cause because I know that many kids would appreciate it.
Kyle McMullin
Saratoga
Senior wants to keep neighborhood quiet
I am a senior citizen and have been a resident of Saratoga, living at Fellowship Plaza, for only a few months; however, I previously lived only five blocks from the San José City College sports field and stadium.
The noise and the powerful lights were extremely audible and blinding, even from that distance, despite the presence of homes, trees and shrubbery. The traffic caused incredible delays and our streets and driveways in every direction were always filled with those attending the events seeking parking. Believe me, it did not matter to them that they were parking illegally, in the case of driveways or designated handicapped parking! Surely this is not what you truly want for the quiet, suburban atmosphere of Saratoga!
Imogene Bell
Senior Resident Fellowship Plaza
Correction
In the Jan. 23 issue of the Saratoga News, it was incorrectly stated that parents at Argonaut Elementary School began to talk about starting a Math Olympiad program at the school during the 2000-2001 school year. The school has participated in the program since the 1997-1998 school year.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
