The Los Gatos­Saratoga Joint Union High School District board of trustees recently approved an agreement between the district and DACA for the use of the school's aquatic center for 2003-04. The board also requested a mid-year on DACA's progress with the program. West Valley's contractual agreement expires at the end of August, said district Superintendent Cynthia Ranii, and DACA offered the district a $40,000 annual bid to use the pool. The figure is a 6.7 percent increase over what West Valley, not including the costs of water and power. West Valley currently pays $3,000 a month to use the pool, and $3,500 in June, July and August.

The district has been renting out the facility during non-school hours for the past three years—since the pool's construction—said Saratoga High School Principal Kevin Skelly. As the current tenant, West Valley provides the community with opportunities for lap and youth swimming, water polo, swim lessons and a master's swimming program for adults. DACA—a significantly larger program than West Valley affiliated with the national USA Swimming organization—claims to be committed to maintaining the same programs already offered by West Valley. Skelly said he hopes the transition will be made as smoothly as possible. He added that the decision to bring in DACA is in the best interest of both the school and community.

"It enhances the revenue of the district in a time of financial difficulty," he said.

Skelly said the school's enrollment is up from last year's 1,280 students to this year's anticipated 1,333 students. As the population grows in the midst of budget challenges, Skelly said he is still optimistic that the faculty will be able to handle larger class sizes, with two fewer teachers who either retired or moved out of the area.

Sage Hopkins, DACA associate head coach, represented the organization at the Aug. 5 school district board meeting. "We are definitely excited at the chance to expand swimming opportunities for youth and adults in the Saratoga area," he said.

Hopkins said DACA was initially contacted by Saratoga High School administration with the idea of taking over the contract. And as of Sept. 1 the coaches will hit the ground running to start up the team, although DACA will continue to maintain a swimming program at De Anza Community College and a summer swim program in Redwood City. Hopkins said they hope offer a comprehensive program to meet the needs of Saratoga area swimmers from the beginning level to the most competitive.

Norm Havercroft, West Valley head coach and program director, said the transition of DACA taking over the pool came as a surprise to both West Valley swimmers and coaches, but said he is trying to maintain a positive attitude about the transition since many of his athletes will be joining DACA.

"We are clearly very sad to have to have to leave," Havercroft said. "We started this nonprofit organization as a community effort."

Havercroft said West Valley met with Skelly on May 30 and nothing appeared to be wrong with the agreement giving the team use of the pool. But on June 16 West Valley received a notice telling them their contract would not be renewed.

The subsequent meetings and conversations that took place between Havercroft and Skelly have and will remain confidential. Skelly refused to comment on Havercroft's reaction to not having West Valley's contract renewed. He also refused to comment about why West Valley was not asked to renew its contract.

During the board meeting, West Valley master's swimmer Douglas Case asked Skelly directly why the switch of vendors was occurring, and Skelly again said he wouldn't go into the particulars as to why DACA was chosen over West Valley.

"I'm disappointed because I don't think these guys [DACA] will take as much of an interest in the organization," said Case in a prior phone interview.

Havercroft said he and his wife have been running the team since 1996 when it started at West Valley Community College's pool and then later moved to Saratoga High School's facility once it was built. The "mom-and-pop" group has grown from about 25 swimmers to more than 600.

"We had become a larger, successful team with a small team mentality," he said, emphasizing the local support of the community-based program.

Havercroft, who also teaches at Redwood Middle School, was not able to anticipate how many swimmers and coaches will be leaving the swim team to go elsewhere or will join DACA's program.

"We haven't really recovered from the shock yet," he said.

Havercroft stressed that West Valley's unique program focuses on a high level of coaching and expertise, and said he hopes DACA—also a non-profit group—will do the same.

West Valley athletes and coaches will have first priority at joining DACA's team at Saratoga High School, and any registration fees will be comparable to what the swimmers were previously paying. Mark Taliaferro, West Valley assistant coach and Saratoga High School water polo coach and pool director, will also join DACA, Hopkins said.

Hopkins added that all DACA swimmers pay for membership and insurance to be affiliated with USA Swimming. USA Swimming rules also state that DACA coaches can't initiate contact with swimmers registered with another team. West Valley members who would like more information about joining DACA can call Tammy Hopkins in DACA's business office at 408.253.7946.