Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Lee Wendleton, working in his garden at the corner of Alcott Way and Manteca Way, is one of the residents in the 53-parcel area near Twain Court who will vote Nov. 4 on whether to move into the Saratoga school districts. He says he favors the idea of having all the kids in the neighorhood attending the same schools.

Twain Court residents go to the polls

By Sarah Lombardo

On Nov. 4, residents of 53 parcels on Saratoga's Twain Court and surrounding streets will vote on an issue that many Saratoga residents would like the right to vote on--school boundaries. Residents of Twain Court, Dolphin Drive, Alcott Way, Manteca Way and portions of Allendale Avenue and Harleigh Drive won the right last May to vote on whether they want to stay in Campbell's school districts or transfer to Saratoga's when the state Board of Education voted unanimously to support a petition by the residents.

Many residents called the upcoming vote a victory long in coming for Saratoga parents eager to have their children attend Saratoga schools.

"I've been fighting this battle for 25 years," Elaine Wilson, an Allendale Avenue resident, said. Although Wilson's children are grown, she said she supports parents' current efforts to make the switch in districts and wishes neighbors had done the same when she was battling. "We had hoped people would have done it for us," she said. "No one was interested in our petition 25 years ago."

The current Twain Court-area residents' battle began when residents petitioned the county Board of Education to be allowed to move into the Saratoga attendance area in 1995 and were denied. The state board supported an appeal made by the residents last October, but Campbell officials asked the board to reconsider. The board did, and made its decision in May.

Some residents said it was about time.

"I feel that if you live in Saratoga, you should be able to go to Saratoga schools," Michael Kinsch, a Twain Court resident, said. The Chicago native said he was a little surprised to find out when his children were young that they could not attend Saratoga schools because of the boundaries. "Where I came from, where you lived was where you went to school."

Currently, a study is under way by the Santa Clara Committee on School District Reorganization to determine the possible effects of a variety of scenarios involving district reorganization, from making the school districts' and city's boundaries the same, to creating separate districts. Parents involved in that dispute come from Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Campbell and Cupertino. The study's results, due in late November or early December, will then be considered by the committee, and a recommendation should be passed on to the state Board of Education next February. If the state approves the recommendation, an election would be held in June or November of the following year, with the state board once again determining who gets to vote in that election.

Many parents now fighting to switch to Saratoga districts point to fractured neighborhoods as a reason they want their children to be allowed to attend Saratoga schools. Parents say that when their children live in one city but attend school in another, they miss out on a sense of community. Allowing Saratoga children to attend Saratoga schools could improve that situation, some parents argue.

Some Twain Court-area residents said they agree.

Wilson, whose children were able to transfer to Saratoga High School years ago, said she feels lucky her children got that chance and said it enriched their high school years. "They made friends they have never lost touch with, even though they have since moved away," she said.

Dan Roberts, a Harleigh Drive resident, on the other hand, disagrees, saying that he doesn't believe his children missed out on a sense of community growing up.

"I don't remember the kids ever saying they wished they were in the Saratoga district," he said.

Roberts even petitioned years ago to stay in the Campbell district, pointing out that at that time, his children had been attending Campbell schools since they were little and he didn't want them to have to switch.

But for some, community ranks second after safety.

"I think it would build a better sense of community, but I think it's more of a safety issue," said Andrew Gaul, the father of a 14- and a 19-year-old. Gaul said that although his house, situated right across the street from the district's dividing line on Harleigh Drive, is only three-tenths of a mile away from the closest school, his child could not attend it. Instead, he said, his children had to walk much farther and cross busy Quito Road to attend schools in the Campbell district.

If the Campbell district loses the Twain Court-area parcels in the election, it will also lose the tax revenue associated with having those homes in its district. But homeowners could expect an increase in their property values if they switch to the Saratoga school district, an idea that some believe is the real impetus behind the clamor to be counted in Saratoga's attendance area. It is a reason Roberts said that makes him inclined to vote against the switch.

"If anybody can come up with a good solid reason, except money, that we should switch, then I probably would support it," he said. "But I haven't heard one."

Larry Shirey, a senior research analyst with the county Office of Education, said that if the majority of the residents from the 53 Twain Court-area parcels should vote to switch to Saratoga districts, the earliest it would take effect would be July 1 of next year.

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