By Clarence Cromwell
Within a year, high school district officials are likely to ask Los Gatos and Saratoga voters to support a bond measure that would rebuild and restore aging facilities in both communities.
"The entire district has a desperate need for facility upgrade," school board chairman Ron Adolphson said, "and the only place to get it is through a bond issue."
Tens of millions may be needed to replace decades-old P.E. lockers, science buildings and other facilities, Adolphson said. Board members are reluctant to talk about a bond, but they took the first step toward a bond measure March 18 with a decision to spend $36,895 on a study to find out what repairs are needed and how much the work would cost.
Further studies must be conducted to determine whether voters will support a bond, Superintendent Tod Likins explained.
"They need to know what their chances are of getting a bond measure passed," Likins said of the board.
Members of the board emphasize that they are currently gathering information about facilities, but have not made up their minds.
"The superintendent has talked about a bond, but the board hasn't discussed it yet," said board member Nancy Crampton.
Adolphson said the bond proposal is important enough that on April 26 when the board met to interview potential superintendents, all the candidates where quizzed about their experience with bond measures. (Likins plans to retire at the end of the school year, and the board is looking for a replacement.)
HMC Group, an architectural firm, is expected to finish poking around school buildings and to fix a price tag to the district's revamping by June.
When completed, the architects' findings are to be presented to the school board at an open meeting.
The issue could be complicated by another bond that the Saratoga elementary district plans to ask for. Voters will decide whether to give the Saratoga Union School District $40 million on June 3. Whether or not that measure passes, it may be tough to make a case to the same voters for a second assessment, Adolphson said.
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This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 30, 1997.
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