Saratoga News
News
Homeowners rally to alter school district boundaries
By Michele Leung
Some homeowners in Saratoga say the fact that district boundaries keep neighborhood children from attending the same school should be reason enough to lift those boundaries.
The Brookview neighborhood, near Prospect Road and Saratoga Avenue, falls under three elementary and three high school districts. The community is divided into the Moreland, Cupertino and Saratoga Union school districts, as well as the Campbell Union, Fremont Union and Los Gatos-Saratoga Union high school districts.
About two-thirds of the property owners in the neighborhood are petitioning to move from the Moreland and Campbell districts into the Cupertino and Fremont districts because they say the current boundaries don't make any sense. Brookglen Drive, a stretch of road less than a mile long, is segmented into the six districts.
Gloria Santilo, whose house is in the Moreland district, wants to transfer so her children can be in the same sports leagues as their neighbors. Being on the same schedule with other families could help her out immensely, she said. "I'd love to carpool," she said. "I'm a working mom."
The neighbors and the four affected districts argued their points to the Santa Clara Committee on School District Organization at a public hearing on June 26. Residents said community identity is a compelling reason for the change. In addition, they cited safety concerns. Cupertino schools are much closer to their homes; the Moreland schools are at least five lights away and on the other side of busy thoroughfares.
"Walking across Prospect is not easy for a 12-year-old girl," parent Adrian Amelse said.
The petitioners said the low rate of inter-district transfers into the Cupertino and Fremont districts make it unlikely they'd be successful in going that route. Lastly, they feared schools in the Moreland district may not stay open due to financial hardships. In April, Moreland school district trustees voted to close two schools.
Some of the parents who attended the hearing were not yet parents of school-age children, but they said they needed to plan for the future.
Alex Roedling and his wife, who recently moved to the neighborhood, are expecting their first child in August. He said he has a vested interest.
"We want to be lifelong friends with the neighborhood children," he said. "There's a school a block and a half away, but we can't go to that school."
Petitioners said their objective was not to boost property values by being associated with schools in Cupertino.
"There are [better] opportunities to make money than real estate appreciation," Srivatsan Kasturi said. "The return of investment on time is a lot better."
Kasturi said he has crunched the numbers to show property taxes paid by the homeowners applying for the transfer would more than pay for the students moving in.
However, representatives from all four districts disagreed and said they fear there will be a drain on resources if the transfer is accepted.
Stephen Rowley, superintendent of the Fremont high school district, said streets being subdivided in a neighborhood does not justify a change in districts. Within his own school district, he said, neighboring teens can be sent to different high schools.
"Internally, neighbors have that complaint," he said.
He also said a withdrawal of students from the Moreland district would exacerbate Moreland's financial situation.
"The exit would further hurt the problem," Rowley said. "We should stand shoulder to shoulder with other school districts."
In Cupertino, the concern is to find ways to accommodate extra students who will be moving to the city due to a growth in housing developments, said Rick Hausman, chief business officer of the Cupertino school district.
Committee members who listened to the arguments asked the residents what made their situation compelling. Committee members said they hear similar reasons of safety and community unity when other neighborhoods ask to change district boundaries, and they wondered what made the Brookview neighborhood unique.
"We're a tiny little neighborhood," resident Ann Sullivan said. "We're 200 homes. This doesn't make sense. We're not trying to be devious. This is not some kind of weird way to raise property values."
Petitioners and school district officials will have another chance to argue their case at a second public hearing at 5:30 p.m. July 6 at the Camden Community Center, 3369 Union Ave.
