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The wheels are turning for SUSD's new busing plan
By Jason Baker
The pieces of the transportation puzzle are coming together at Saratoga Union School District, and administrators are hoping the final picture will be a pretty one.
Officials on Aug. 24 hammered out the final details for busing Saratoga Elementary School students and Redwood Middle School sixth-graders to Strawberry Park School in San Jose this fall.
Superintendent Mary Gardner said the district has secured 160 available spots on two buses that have been leased to the district by the Moreland School District.
Should the district need an additional bus, Moreland may be able to provide an additional one or the district may consider using a charter company.
Saratoga elementary students will meet at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Allendale Avenue near West Valley College at specified times, Gardner said.
Redwood students are scheduled to meet at the Redwood campus. Should any problems arise, those students will meet at the church, Gardner said.
Administrators earlier this month mailed bus passes to families registered for the services. Along with the passes, students and their parents received notification of the busing rules, she said.
The SUSD board of trustees approved moving Saratoga elementary students at the recommendation of Gardner and administrators. Because there are major construction sites around the school, officials decided it would be better for Redwood sixth-graders to move as well. Strawberry Park provides students a safer, more secure and quieter environment, administrators said.
To keep the current sixth-grade program at Redwood, officials would have needed 15 portable buildings, 12 of which would line the front of the school grounds. The school also would have faced adding two more sixth-grade classes while dealing with a significant cut in space during construction.
For many students, the move will present their first bus-riding experience, outside of field trips. The district had hoped to place monitors on each bus to aid in supervision, but Gardner said filling the bus monitor jobs remained a problem.
"We're still working out some of the details," Gardner said. The district may ask teachers' aides and other staff to volunteer as monitors until administrators fill the positions. If all goes well, the district may decide to bus the children without monitors after a few weeks and then assess the results.
The move to Strawberry Park will not affect sixth-grade teachers, who will make the move with their students. To further help build a sense of sixth-grade unity, students will be placed in a group of portable classrooms that are close together and clearly identifiable, officials said.
As for construction, district facilities director Paul Tipton said asbestos abatement should be completed at Redwood and Saratoga in about five days. The process was slowed when workers encountered a new problem--termites--and were forced to delay the abatement to exterminate the pests.
Tipton said that, in spite of minor delays, projects remain on schedule to meet the established completion deadlines. Workers in June began initial renovations of Redwood and Saratoga schools, including abatement of certain structural components known to contain asbestos.
Throughout summer construction, Tipton said, he has fielded only three calls from neighbors asking about the abatement process.
Saratoga voters in 1997 approved money for the construction through Measure D, a $40 million bond initiative slated to renovate and modernize district facilities to meet health, safety and seismic standards. By law, Measure D funds can only be used on renovations and construction, not salaries or administrative costs. The measure is expected to cost homeowners about $39 per year per $100,000 of assessed home value.
Renovation and construction will continue through the summer and should be completed by next summer, barring any major setbacks.
Project information and updates can be found on the SUSD website, www.susd.k12.ca.us.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
