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Commentary
Vote No on A-Moreland can't handle Prospect
By David and Susie Levin
We are writing to inform the Saratoga public about an issue which will be on the June 8 ballot for voters living in the Moreland School District. Almost 2,000 registered voters in Saratoga will have an opportunity to vote on Measure A.
We live in Saratoga Woods, which is a wonderful, family-oriented neighborhood. Our children went to Country Lane Elementary School and Rogers Middle School, both Moreland schools. They enjoyed these schools, but were never challenged academically.
We are deeply concerned over Moreland Elementary District's proposed takeover of Prospect and Blackford High schools to make a K-12 district. When our children were in elementary school this sounded good to us. But over the years we have come to believe that this cannot work; in fact it would be disastrous. Moreland has no "plan" for running a high school. There are too many unanswered questions. Moreland says that they will devise a plan after the election.
Many of the programs at Prospect have taken years to develop. How does Moreland think they can come up with programs for 1,700 students in one year? If "unification" takes place, 97 percent of the current teachers have said they will leave Prospect and stay with the Campbell Union High School District where they have tenure. The administration will also leave. How is Moreland going to deal with the chaos that will result? Right now the campus feels safe. The students know the rules and how they are enforced. If Moreland gets an empty shell of a school and 1,700 students, how are they going to keep the campus safe? With all the Advanced Placement teachers gone, how will the advanced students get ahead? Already being in financial trouble, how will Moreland deal with a deteriorating campus and buildings? The CUHSD has funding and is in the process of renovating Prospect, but this will end if Moreland takes over.
There are very few, if any, parents of Prospect students who welcome this takeover. The group pushing for this comes from the elementary schools. Have these parents ever been to Prospect to look at the programs? Do they know Prospect is a distinguished school? Do they realize that 90 percent of the graduating seniors in 1998 went to college? This number is very high when you consider the population.
Our son looks forward to starting as a freshman at Prospect in September. Our daughter is currently a sophomore and enjoys participating in many community service clubs, the Career Pathways Program and supporting sports teams. She also had a fabulous time last summer traveling to Costa Rica with five other Prospect students and their Spanish teacher.
We have been pleasantly surprised by the variety of programs offered at Prospect. There are AP classes in English, Spanish, U.S. history, government, calculus, physics and computer science. Honors classes are offered in English, world history, biology and chemistry. Career Pathway classes and many others are offered at different levels to accommodate a diverse population. In addition to music, art and vocational classes, the CUHSD pays for students to go to Central County Occupational Center vocational classes. There is an active ROTC program, an Advancement Via Individual Determination program which helps students who never thought about going to college achieve this goal. The ELD program has 200 students, and there is also a Compensatory Education Program which offers a tutorial program for students.
All of these programs are important and necessary for Prospect to be a successful high school. Moreland has not addressed any of these special needs. If Moreland takes over, the demographics of Prospect will not change. A wide variety of programs will still be needed for the students. And these programs are expensive. Where is this money going to come from? One possibility would be to take it from the K-8 programs for Moreland to prove that it can create and administer a high school. A second possibility would be to pass another parcel tax.
Moreland has never said how it will improve the school. What will happen to the after-school sports program, which is so important to high school students? Sports offer opportunities for scholarships, encourage students to maintain a minimum GPA and give students something to do after school. Even those not participating enjoy the school spirit that competitive school sports create. Can you imagine a high school without football, basketball, field hockey, tennis, swimming, wrestling and volleyball games? Moreland says it will bring in an elementary physical education specialist to run an after-school program. The current sports program at Prospect has a $200,000 budget provided by the CUHSD. How much will Moreland spend? Right now, Moreland spends zero on the after-school sports programs at their middle schools and continues to refuse funding. It is entirely paid for by parents and volunteers who coach and drive.
Prospect has been the recipient of many grants. They have received $20,000 per year for the past three years from NEC, and have applied for additional funding. Cisco Systems works with students and has an internship program. A Prospect teacher won $25,000 worth of computer equipment and programs for the high school from Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Microsoft. These grants are with the CUHSD and will remain with Campbell and not Prospect. What does Moreland know about obtaining these grants? How many students will suffer with these losses?
There is no financial benefit for Moreland to become a K-12 district. The original county report agrees with this. Moreland already has the second most expensive administrative costs (21.2 percent) in the Bay Area. It will only get more costly by adding the high school component. More bureaucracy will be added, not taken away. Moreland will only need one high school. Therefore, it is logical to assume that one of the schools will be sold. As Blackford is the larger school and can accommodate the growing student population (it also has a lien against one quarter of its property) Prospect could well be sold.
We hope voters will look at the facts. It makes no sense to destroy a school that is running well. It could take 10 years for Prospect to get back to its present level if Moreland takes over. Our students' safety could be at stake as well as all of the academic benefits they now have. We urge you to vote no on Measure A on June 8. Please, save our schools.
David and Susie Levin live on Ansley Place in Saratoga.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
