Saratoga News

Letters

Don't leave decision in Sacramento's hands

I am a parent and a Los Gatos resident who lives within the borders of the Marshall Lane attendance area. When I purchased my home, I was aware of the fact that I was not buying a home in the Los Gatos school district. However, one of the selling points of the house was that a school was located five minutes away.

Now I have been hearing that the city of Saratoga wants to extend its school district boundaries to include all Saratoga residents and [if this plan is adopted, Saratoga will] take over all schools within the city borders. As a Los Gatos resident, my home will no longer remain in the attendance area of Marshall Lane School.

Even if my child is allowed to finish out at the school, if I were to sell my home, I would have to tell any buyer that there is no neighborhood school available. Also, any residents of my neighborhood that have preschool children or younger, or have not yet had children but plan to, would not be able to send them to Marshall Lane.

I think this would be very unfair to the residents of my neighborhood, since our homes have always been part of the Marshall Lane area. The fact that Saratoga wants to include our school in their district should not have a negative impact on us.

Because I was becoming concerned about this issue, I decided to attend one of the recent public hearings on the proposed boundary changes. Although I had been following this issue through its coverage in the local newspapers, I had never attended one of the meetings.

I was not too surprised at the emotion displayed at the meeting, as I had heard that people had very strong opinions on this subject and were not afraid of expressing them. However, as I was watching the proceedings, one thought struck me.

The people who went to the podium to speak for both sides of the issue were obviously very educated, intelligent and committed parents. In fact, some were very eloquent speakers who stated their position very well, and it was obvious they care very much about the children and their community.

I kept thinking about what would happen if all the factions could come together and sit around a table. What if all of us could, without shouting, waving signs or making accusations, just talk and respect each other and work out some kind of solution that would satisfy us all? Think how powerful we would be if we all together went to the county committee and brought committee members to the same solution.

Personally, I can sympathize with people who bought homes based on a certain school attendance boundary. I did the same, and now I'm being told that they may be changed and my neighborhood school will be gone. I don't like the thought that a panel in Sacramento will decide my fate.

I would like to see the issue decided by Los Gatos and Saratoga residents only. If my neighborhood were to remain in the Marshall Lane boundary, I would support the Saratoga residents who want their children to remain in their neighborhood schools. If we could discuss the issues logically, with a representative of each position, could this problem be solved on a local level?

Patty Heintz
Los Gatos

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