West Valley-Mission College propose a shift in boundaries

By Rebecca Ray

After listening to Saratoga residents voice objections, the West Valley-Mission Community College District board voted at its Dec. 13 meeting to continue to have two trustees represent the Los Gatos-Saratoga district area.

The decision came after board members spent months discussing how to more fairly represent the district. Some proposed scenarios involved reallocating one trustee from the Los Gatos-Saratoga area to another area, because a recent study conducted by Lapkoff and Gobalet Demographic Research Inc. showed that those two communities were overrepresented.

Trustees voted to reallocate a portion of San Jose, which adjoins the Los Gatos-Saratoga area, to be designated as part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga area, so that the area would merit the representation of two trustees.

Under the previous setup, the college district was divided into three areas, based on the boundaries of three high school districts--the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, the Campbell Union High School District and the Santa Clara Unified School District. Of seven trustees, two each represented the Los Gatos-Saratoga and Santa Clara areas, while three represented the Campbell area. The configuration deviated from the ideal representation of one person, one vote by almost 80 percent. All of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District remains in the Los Gatos-Saratoga area, and all of the Santa Clara Unified School District remains in the Santa Clara area. However, the Campbell Union High School District is divided among the three areas. The setup deviates from perfect representation by 5.1 percent.

Before the board approved the new scenario 5-1--Trustee Don Wolfe was absent from the meeting--the board voted down another scenario. The scenario involved one trustee representing Saratoga, Monte Sereno and a part of Los Gatos west of Highway 85 and three trustees representing Campbell, San Jose and the other part of Los Gatos. The scenario deviated from ideal representation by 5.9 percent. Trustee Bob Owens, who the board named president of the board earlier that night at the board's annual organizational meeting, said he was concerned about the division of Los Gatos into two areas. Owens was one of three trustees who voted against the scenario.

Three Saratoga residents also objected to the plan. Taking one representative away from Saratoga, the city that is home to West Valley College and is the most affected by the college, was "unrealistic," Saratogan Ronnie Rabedeau said. The city of Saratoga "gave permission to have this campus in a bedroom community," she said. "[The proposed scenario] seems like it's not a fair opportunity for us to protect our living conditions."

After residents made their arguments, board Vice President Chris Constantin, who had proposed that the board approve the scenario, proposed that the board approve the option to add part of San Jose to the Los Gatos-Saratoga area and have the area be represented by two trustees. Constantin said that the scenario wasn't originally his first choice, because it divided San Jose into three areas. He said he changed his mind, because he understood the Saratoga residents' concern about the impact of West Valley College on the city.

Trustee Jeffrey Schwartz, who made a motion to keep the scenario based on high school district boundaries--which the district has operated under since its inception in the 1960s--voted against the new scheme.

Under the new scenario, the board members have retained an at-large election, in which every voter in the district votes for all trustee seats.

After the Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization holds a public hearing on the new scenario, the committee will review it. If the committee approves it, voters will vote under the new redistricting scheme during the next board election to occur at least 120 days after the approval, unless 5 percent of district voters sign a petition.

The next election will occur in November 2002, when the four-year terms of Trustee Nancy Rucker and the two trustees from Saratoga, Schwartz and Don Wolfe, end.

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