By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Nearly 500 Sunnyvale students will have to switch schools next year if trustees reduce class sizes in the second grade.
Sunnyvale Elementary School District Superintendent Doris Wilson predicted that 160 Bishop Elementary students would move to Lakewood School to accommodate a 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio at Bishop.
Bishop has one of the largest populations of the seven elementary schools in the district, but the second smallest in terms of its boundaries. Much of the area surrounding the school has high-density apartment housing.
The district would then open Fairwood School, which at least 328 current Lakewood students would attend.
The estimated cost of renovating Fairwood before it can open in the fall is $2.6 million, which would be covered under the $34 million bond passed in June, said Ben Picard, the district's deputy superintendent.
Operating expenses--such as administration and utility costs--at Fairwood are estimated at $250,000 per year. The school is currently leased to California Young World, a daycare center and preschool. The district will purchase five double-sized portables to house the agency and will not lose the $130,000 in revenue it provides, Picard said.
While the prospect of opening Fairwood pleases parents in that neighborhood, the idea of busing Bishop students to Lakewood has many parents upset.
"I'm concerned because if they move the boundary a little, my child will be shipped across town," said Linda Garcia, a Bishop parents who lives a block away from the border. "It may happen soon because there's a lot of growth in this area."
Garcia lives near Ahwanee and Morse avenues in north Sunnyvale.
A large apartment complex is under construction at nearby Lawrence Expressway and U.S. 101, and houses will be built on former Navy land on Morse Avenue.
It's Garcia's opinion that the district chose to move the children of renters because the turnaround in apartments is higher, and the parents might not put up such a fuss. Many of those parents speak Spanish and were not able to read a note in English sent home with students the day before a Jan. 9 board meeting, at which boundary issues were discussed.
"These parents aren't getting a fair shake," she said.
Wilson, the superintendent, said the district selected the area based on its nearness to the boundary. The affected addresses are the 100-500 blocks of Ahwanee Avenue, the 800 block of Alturas Avenue, 825, 828 and 835 Morse Ave. and the 800 block of San Aleso Avenue
SESD Board President Bill McDowell gave reassurance that community forums will be held at both Bishop and Lakewood with a Spanish interpreter before any decision is made on boundary changes.
"Whenever you have a boundary issue, you have to be really sensitive to community needs, and we know we are affecting people's lives and children's education and relationships with friends," he said.
The board didn't send letters home earlier because it was the process was in the beginning stages, McDowell said. The board generally only posts agendas at schools and at the district office well in advance, so sending home a note to parents was unusual, he added.
"We're doing our best to make this process user-friendly and keep people informed. The boundary issue is dependent on implementation of class-size reduction in second grade," he said.
A decision on class-size reduction is scheduled for the Feb. 27 board meeting.
Mar Junge, who lives in the Fairwood neighborhood, is overjoyed at the thought of her three children being able to walk to school next year. She likes Lakewood School but said she wouldn't miss the drive across traffic-laden Lawrence Expressway to take her kids to school there.
"To have a neighborhood school again is like a dream come true," she said. "We're afraid to get our hopes up too much yet."
The district receives $650 from the state for each first-grader in a class with 20 students or less. It hopes that by next year the number will be increase to $666 per student, as requested by Gov. Pete Wilson. State funds do not fully cover the costs of implementing class-size reduction.
The district experienced a shortfall of $63,000 this year by lowering the size of its first-grade, and anticipates a shortfall of $102,000 next year if it adds second grade to the mix, Picard said.
The district will also purchase nine portables to be placed throughout the district for class-size reduction purposes, which will cost about $900,000, he added.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 29, 1997.
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