Saratoga News

Saratoga School District says it can't handle more transfers

By John Pancharian

Now that the dust has settled on the much trumpeted district reorganization study, the County Committee on School District Organization has begun sorting out all of the pending petitions for territory transfer. One of the first to reach the committee, the Camino Barco and Apricot Hill petition, received a public hearing Feb. 25. The petition asks for the territory transfer of 38 parcels from the Campbell Union School District to the Saratoga Union School District. The decision the county reaches on this petition may serve as a precedent in deciding future cases because it would prove difficult for the county to justify itself in deciding similar cases differently.

Saratoga Unified School District Superintendent Mary Gardner told the committee she fears that changing district boundaries in small ways for every group of petitioners will have a drastic cumulative effect on the district. She added that the SUSD does not have the facilities to deal with the more than 100 new parcels in pending petitions.

"Please consider that our classes are full. Period," said Peggy Koen, president of the SUSD board, echoing Gardner's words. She said that traffic and safety issues raised by the petitioners would not be solved by the change in districts and that interdistrict transfers of individual students would be the proper way to address the situation. She added that there are only four children living in the area affected by the petition and said the district "cannot support continuing boundary changes to meet individual needs."

John Snelham, a board member at Campbell Unified, said he also feared the cumulative effect of petitions on his district. He said these petitions were chipping away at Campbell Unified's tax base, and he does not want to lose Marshall Lane School, which is located near the contested area. He also told the committee that Campbell voters passed a $42 million bond measure in 1994 to improve the schools and that asking the remaining taxpayers in their district to pay more than they bargained for is not fair.

Judy Tatro, one of the chief petitioners, countered that this petition meets state criteria for territory transfers and said their case should be considered on its merits. She said the district lines are antiquated and arbitrary in modern Saratoga. "Just because the boundaries are there doesn't mean they're right," she said.

Several Camino Barco and Apricot Hill residents also spoke, saying that their homes are surrounded on three sides by the SUSD, and it seems ludicrous that they are not part of it. Their concerns included traffic safety for their children, building a sense of community and ensuring that their children's lives are not disrupted by forcing them to leave their own community to go to school.

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]