On the night of March 25, Fremont Union's board chamber was the site for a gathering of the boards, superintendents and staffs of the Sunnyvale School District, Cupertino Union School District and Fremont Union itself. The boards try to meet once a year to keep each other informed on their current issues and progress on their goals. Discussion revolved around issues that affect all three districts, such as housing, parcel taxes and calendars.

The state's financial situation has prompted all three districts to consider either a parcel tax or school bond for upcoming elections. Dr. Joe Rudnicki, superintendent of the Sunnyvale School District, serves on the subcommittee examining a countywide parcel tax, said he believes that such a proposition won't get off the ground.

Instead, Sunnyvale is looking toward putting a bond on the November ballot. The amount of the potential bond isn't yet known, but Rudnicki said the district has identified $112 million worth of need.

Pearl Cheng, president of the Cupertino Union school board, said the district is considering a parcel tax for the November election, but recent surveys have shown declining support. The board said it hopes to know its course of action by June. In contrast, Dr. Steve Rowley, superintendent of Fremont Union, said the earliest his district would be ready to put something on the ballot is next March.

Pollster Brad Senden, who's been consulting with the Sunnyvale School District, spoke on the prospect of all three districts running a joint campaign to pass their respective ballot measures in the same election. He explained that the strength of the pro-education message could outweigh concerns about overtaxation and harness the efforts of one large group of volunteers.

However, upon further discussion, board members said the prospect seemed unlikely because Fremont Union was working on a different timetable than the other two districts.

As the high school district, Fremont Union is seeing larger enrollments coming through from its feeder districts. Because of overcrowding, Homestead and Lynbrook were the only schools open for intradistrict transfers this year, which prompted comments from Linda Kilian, Sunnyvale school board member and former Fremont High School parent.

"I'm concerned about a brain drain," she said. "I want to make sure Fremont is not seen as a stepchild school." Fremont Union board member Nancy Newton assured everyone that Fremont High School is the district's flagship school.

Growth in north Sunnyvale, where former industrial parks are being converted to housing, and along Homestead Road between De Anza Boulevard and Stelling Road have affected the elementary school districts. The Sunnyvale School District has eight schools at or above capacity, and the district is starting to work with Sunnyvale on the city's downtown plan.

Cupertino Superintendent William Bragg said that growth along Homestead and in the area surrounding Vallco Fashion Park has his district working to make sure Garden Gate Elementary doesn't become more overcrowded.

The divergent school calendars were also a point of discussion. "I've heard from several parents about the off-by-one problem," said Cupertino board member Gary McCue, referring to weekends where Cupertino students have Fridays off and Fremont Union students have Mondays off. The timing results in families taking four-day weekends and lost revenue.

However, it's difficult for the high schools to hold staff development on Fridays when students are involved with sports. While Fremont Union is considering moving the start of the school year to earlier in August and holding finals before the winter break, staff development days are the main concern. Cupertino and Fremont Union plan to keep communicating about their calendars.