However, the plan faces skepticism from the district's school board.

The parents say their reasons are simple—an alternative program is safe, it addresses the concerns of all the neighborhoods involved and with some measures in place, it will solve the overcrowding at Kennedy and Hyde middle schools, which is the reason for opening a fifth middle school in the first place.

"It will make everyone happy because it's safe and it makes sense," said Sangeeta Peris, a resident of the Stevens Creek Elementary neighborhood.

Peris, whose only child is in preschool, said some drafts, such as number 17, will require children from her neighborhood to travel north on Foothill Road, which is traveled by as many as 2,400 vehicles a day, and cross Highway 280 to attend Cupertino Middle School.

"As an adult, I am afraid to walk around Foothill and Interstate 280," she said. "It's not safe for anybody."

However, drafts that do keep children away from this location do not necessarily protect them from crossing other busy streets, such as Steven Creek and De Anza boulevards and Bollinger Road.

"Instead of picking a draft that will pit one neighborhood against another, why not consider making Collins an alternative school?" said Divya Chari, whose child attends first grade at Stevens Creek Elementary.

According to Peris, who said she has been pushing for an alternative middle school for three months, some parents from the Faria and Garden Gate neighborhoods have also supported this option.

In addition, a letter writing campaign started by Cupertino resident Lynette Eng is calling on the school board to "redirect, guide and revisit" this possibility.

However, some residents believe that this proposal, as another Stevens Creek Elementary parent Yvonne Li put it, is "going nowhere because its chances are small."

Li, who is a supporter of the "Blue proposal" as well as the newly submitted drafts 20 and 21, said her impression is based on the district's refusal to consider an alternative program at Collins.

According to Ben Liao, president of the district's board of education, the district did review this possibility in the 1998­99 school year, when it set out to deal with overcrowding at Kennedy Middle School.

"We rejected the idea because it doesn't solve the overcrowding at Kennedy," Liao said.

According to Liao, after the district decided to open a fifth middle school, it conducted an Internet survey to determine what type of school people wanted.

"The results were close, but a neighborhood school was the top choice," Liao said.

Approximately 10 percent of district families or 1,000 residents participated in the survey, either online or by completing written forms. According to district Superintendent William Bragg, results indicated that 45 percent of participants preferred a neighborhood school and about 40 percent wanted a school with a program of choice.

While Peris, Li and Chari question the comprehensiveness of the survey, they do believe that with "restrictive admission" and other appropriate measures, an alternative program can reduce the number of students at Kennedy.

According to Peris, instead of equally dividing the seats at Collins for students of different neighborhoods, the district can reserve some spaces at Collins for students from Kennedy and Hyde first before accepting students from other areas. Similarly, a lottery system at Kennedy and building a "magnet Collins" site can also relieve overcrowding at that school and attract people
to it.

However, Liao said the suggestion isn't feasible.

"The law in educational code doesn't allow us to do that," he explained. "An alternative program is different from an alternative school; we can't limit the number of students from any attendance area to attend an alternative program."

In addition, Liao said he believes setting the boundaries for the new middle school will allow the district to market the school to residents in its attendance area because "they can participate in designing the curriculum for the school."