Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Sign for the new Bellgrove development advertises Saratoga schools.

Saratoga School District plans for enrollment growth

New houses could make a difference

By Tim Persyn

As the Saratoga Union School District plans for enrollment growth, uncertainty over the demographic makeup of the 94-lot Bellgrove development on Saratoga Avenue sums up the difficulty district officials have in planning for the future.

The district has been experiencing steady growth for the past four years, after years of declining enrollment.

Saratoga Union expects to absorb students from the Greenbrier project, on the site of the former Paul Masson Champagne Cellars. However, there is some uncertainty about just how many students the district will need to accommodate.

Carol Meyer, director of marketing for the Greenbrier Company, said past experience leads the company to believe that Saratoga Union will absorb one-half child per house.

However, Barbara McGee, administrative assistant to the district superintendent, speculated that the number of students might be higher. She said the reputation Saratoga schools have as drawing cards for families with children could draw higher numbers of young people into the district.

Reportedly, an advertisement near the project mentions Saratoga schools.

Ellen Tipton, business manager for the district, said she thinks the developer's estimate is believable. "A lot of kids go to private school, some children are grown, some residents won't have children, and some kids will be in high school," Tipton said.

Meyer explained that some residents of the development will be retired. She said that Greenbrier has had developments within other popular school districts, such as the Cupertino Union School District, and their enrollment estimates averaging half a child per house have been valid.

Meyer said the developer will be sending surveys to the district on the age makeup of incoming residents. McGee said she has received surveys for 18 of the units, although she said the developer told the district that half the units have been sold. Seven of these 18 buyers have children of various ages.

McGee said she needs more information from the developer before she can comment on the surveys.

Other construction projects that district officials are monitoring include six houses going up on Pierce Road, seven houses in Monte Sereno, and 15 going up near Saratoga High School.

The concern over new developments is an aspect of a larger school-district effort to determine what upcoming years will bring.

Superintendent Mary Gardner said that an important part of the district's planning for the future will include attempting to figure out if the current increases in enrollment are only a short-term trend, or if the district needs to plan for a long-term period of growth.

"What's hard is figuring out if this is going to be an ongoing trend or just a five- or six-year blip that will level off or even move into a period of declining enrollment," Gardner said.

She explained that the district wants to study patterns of enrollment for the past 40 or 50 years. "We'll use our best-educated prognosis," she said.

A forecast of long-term growth could mean construction of a new school, although the district has no property for a new site.

Currently, the district's expansion plans include opening one new classroom at Redwood Middle School and a new one at Foothill School.

But overall, there's no cause for alarm, said Cindy Ruby, president of the Saratoga Union school board.

"We've been experiencing steady growth already," Ruby said. "We're not panicking."