The controversy started after the Soccer Club of Los Gatos distributed a list of soccer classes to students in both Los Gatos and Saratoga elementary schools. The top of the flier read: "the Los Gatos­Saratoga School District supports the not-for-profit."

A letter from the club leaders regarding an upcoming fundraiser was also attached to the list. The club is trying to raise money to install all-weather turf at the Los Gatos High School soccer field.

Los Gatos­Saratoga Joint Union High School District board members believed the flier to be misleading, saying that the club's proposal has yet to receive official approval from the district.

At the April 2 board meeting, Superintendent Cindy Ranii clarified that no action has been taken to establish a partnership with the soccer club. The issue will be presented as an informational item by soccer club coach Mike Karr at the board's April 20 meeting.

"I have not thrown my support for this," Ranii said. "I'm waiting for April 20 to hear about it."

Ranii said she believes Karr, who is spearheading the effort, is a well-meaning, energetic member of the community, but he needs to first come before the board of trustees to seek approval for the project.

"It has not been approved by the board," Ranii said. "It has not at this point been supported by Los Gatos High School."

Soccer club officials said that they did not intend to suggest that the project had board approval but rather were under the impression that any fliers sent to the schools needed this statement.

"I can't have the fliers put out in the school unless we are a not for profit or it says what it does," Karr said. He said that he received approval for the fliers before they went out to schools.

"Before they put the stamp on it, [the school] could have told us. But that's how you learn when you start a new relationship," he said. "I just handed it to them and they approved it. I think because it's the first time I put a flier out into the school district, we needed better communication."

But school officials are also expressing concerns that the soccer club held a fundraiser April 2, before gaining the board's approval for the project.

The soccer club scheduled the fundraiser before the board meeting to show that the organization was financially sound and had sufficient funds to complete an initial soil testing, said Karr. The school reportedly told the club that if it met both criteria, it would have a better shot at board approval.

In other action, board members unanimously voted to reject all bids, including the lowest for approximately $2.8 million, to renovate the athletic fields at Saratoga High School—the football, soccer and baseball fields.

"The $2.8 million low bid is beyond our means and willingness to pay," Ranii said.

Bob Peterson, the district's director of administrative services and chief business official, said board members needed to reject all bids because they were too high.

"What we are looking at presently is a reduced project, not to do the baseball field at this time and just to do the football field because that has the greater need," said SHS Principal Kevin Skelly.

Skelly said school officials are going to be looking into the possibility of having either the Saratoga High School Foundation or the Athletic Boosters Club take on the project.

"The foundation could do [the project] independent of the district and then donate it to the school," Peterson said.

The approximately $1.6 million reduced project is being funded by private donations from community members, and Skelly said they'd like to have the field completed before the start of football season. The project's greatest expense isn't the artificial turf that will be brought in, Skelly said, rather it's the off-hauling of dirt the turf will replace.

District officials are exploring the legal limitations, agreement wording and liability of letting an outside, non-profit organization take over the project. The item is scheduled to appear on the board's April 20 agenda as an action item.

"The responsibility ultimately rests with us," said board member Ron Adolphson. "And we've got to recognize that."