Saratoga News

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Council is spiraling
out of control

Saratoga City Council seems to be out of control. Money is spent for a Saratoga Stonehenge of 13 pillars and no one seems to know how it happened. Now more money will be misspent to remove them. Has anyone noticed the rock pile in front of the Union 76 gas station? I am sure the gas station is ashamed to have it there. How much money will be needed to remove it? Doesn't council have management and oversight responsibility?

Now the council, having shown how to waste money, wants to sell the North Campus and spend the money for something. Owning the North Campus is better then having money in the bank. The investment has shown considerable appreciation and it will provide future appreciation. We do not have to have grand plans now. We can hold the property and develop plans with thought and wisdom.

Streets have potholes, lane markers are missing and there is a general situation of poor maintenance. Now is the time for this council to resign and allow us to have others who will care for our city and show fiscal responsibility.

If council members think they have done a good job, then let them explain their accomplishments--after resigning--and if the citizens agree they will be restored to office. On the other hand, they may get a vote of no confidence.

Frank Patten

Carniel Court

Open discussion will
increase learning

I read Elaine Hocker's letter to the editor (April 19), and frankly I am more than a bit confused. She seems to be saying that the educational system is not functioning because the United States scores poorly on international indexes and the reason for this is that liberal teachers are expressing their personal views during classroom discussions on controversial topics. She also believes this is illegal and that these teachers learned how to do this from our liberal college and university system.

People in the high school teacher-training program at San José State University (a typical program) have at least a BA and vary in age from 22 to 70 years old. The conservative or liberal values of this population did not form in the teacher-credentialing program. George Lakoff in Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think points out these values are a product of the family structure.

There are no state laws limiting teacher opinions. Section 51500-51540 of the California Education Code spells out prohibited instruction and a teacher expressing his or her opinion is not in this section.

Our technology frequently is more advanced than our legal system, and this is where debate needs to take place. The moral issues regarding stem cell research, assisted suicide, in-vitro fertilization, etc., don't lend themselves to factual explanations. The students and the teacher participating in an open discussion increases learning. Students learn how to develop a position and then learn about the merits of the opposite side of the argument. This is true learning.

Perhaps Ms. Hocker wants to reduce the education of the students to worksheets that contain nothing but the "facts."

Robert Miller

San Jose

Robert Miller is a lecturer in the secondary education department at San José State University.

Saratoga shouldn't get
lights if WVC can't

I've heard rumors about Saratoga High School (my alma mater) getting lights for its football stadium. Isn't Saratoga High spoiled enough already? I think it's extremely hypocritical and unfair how the city lets Saratoga High School upgrade its whole football facility, while the neighboring West Valley Community College has to endure the city's unfairness by forcing the football team to play at Westmont High and not let the community college have bleachers or a scoreboard. It makes no sense how the football team at West Valley College was able to have two home games at their own field last year but not for the whole season.

If the high school really does get lights and have night games, then it just shows how flawed, shallow and unfair the city is. It would only be fair if West Valley gets the right and luxury to install bleachers and a scoreboard at its own field. The field should just be like De Anza College's because De Anza doesn't have lights. Either that or West Valley should be granted the privilege to use Saratoga High's upscale brand-new facility, considering that Pop Warner football and the high school marching band gets to.

Another good reason that West Valley should use its own field is because the athletic department has to pay $2,500 per game to use another field, which is a waste of taxpayer dollars versus West Valley using its own home field for free. It's unfortunate that the whole history behind this problem is because the neighbors who live right next to the field don't want any sporting events to happen.

Also, this subject was blown out of proportion by making it look like a professional team wants to play its games at West Valley and build a state of the art stadium for thousands of people. The games at West Valley aren't loud and noisy like the college football and NFL games that you see on TV. The spectator attendance of the game is lower than a high school football junior varsity game.

Is it really that terrible to have five football home games on a Friday afternoon? The home games during the daytime are only three hours long. I bet if the neighbors' backyard were next to the baseball or softball field, they would prohibit any games there.

Allen Wong

Via Madronas

Editor's note: Lights for the Saratoga High School football field were approved by Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint High School District trustees at their April 18 board meeting.

Avoid confusion by
voting 'no on J'

To avoid any possible confusion simply remember "No on J" on the June ballot means do not sell Saratoga's North Campus. In this instance, a negative is a positive!

"No on J" tells the city council it needs to keep the former Grace United Methodist Church property; it tells King, Kline and Streit that space for community activities is more valuable than nine new homes; and it tells our council we want it to spend money fixing our assets and infrastructure for everyone instead of spending money on special interest corporations.

Please help us keep this unique property for all Saratogans.

Sandy Cross

Scully Avenue

Headline was
offensive

In reference to the April 12 story, "Long wait pays off--Kellonds get their China doll"--in the headline of your story it was mystifying to me that an Asian child would be referred to as a "China doll." As a Caucasian mother of two adopted Asian children myself, I found this comment very offensive and inappropriate. It also perpetuates a negative adoption stereotype as well as being potentially offensive to the large Asian population in our town.

Please be more sensitive with the language you choose in the future so as not to alienate the people of our town.

C. Warmington

Paramount Court

Letter should be a
warning to residents

Perhaps someone smarter than I understands the gobbledygook in Elaine Hocker's letter ("Teachers offering their opinions with liberal bias," April 19). But I recognize code words when I see them. "Liberal bias" is evident. What about the phrase "illegal actions of the education system"? "Feel freely justified in indoctrinating ... "?

Let this be a warning to the citizens of Saratoga that stealth candidates from the extreme right as exemplified by Ms. Hocker are poised to take over our school boards, if they have not done so already. I confess to having lost interest in the philosophies and policies of the board members since my children are no longer in the system and I do not know the present state of affairs.

Hocker complains that her "ad hoc study group" has not been given attention she feels it deserves and I say that's fine. Their aim is to subject our students to their bias by denigrating the wonderful teachers and educators who have made Saratoga a desirable place to live.

Marcia O. Kaplan

Sevilla Lane

Saving North Campus
would serve all of us

By the logic of Peter Knight ("Sale of North Campus is best for Saratoga," April 19), we could sell all our parks and community buildings and really have lots of money to pave the roads over and over to a fine tune. And we can turn this city into a police state--for a short few years. Then what, after our capitol is gone and all we have is the little bit of yard we each have personally managed to not pave over and nothing more to sell?

That is not my vision of a desirable community. I don't see where the roads here are worse than other communities I visit. I don't see this community as lacking in sheriff services and for that reason unsafe.

It is OK for the city not to be flush with cash at certain times, like for instance now. It limits the mischief. There is certainly mischief in the stone pillars. There is certainly mischief in the never-ending building of soccer fields serving a tiny vocal group at the expense of our neighborhoods, mature trees and common open space. There is certainly mischief in roads, which fall apart within six months of paving.

But saving land and buildings that can serve us all--that makes a lot of financial and community sense to me.

Please come to the North Campus Open House April 30, sometime between 1 and 4 p.m. See what is at stake in the June election. It will be up to all of us to decide if we keep land and buildings that can be planned, improved and used to serve us all.

Cheriel Jensen

Quito Road