Neighborhood fights with SJUSD over boundaries

By Jessica Lyons

In an attempt to keep their neighborhood intact, a dozen Booksin parents drafted a letter to the district superintendent to keep future neighborhood kids at their elementary school. They hope the San Jose Unified School District won't ignore their pleas this time.

The 35 Booksin families affected by the boundary shift say they have been misled and overlooked every step of the way.

"I personally called in March to volunteer, and was told that these boundaries would not impact our neighborhood, so I didn't even get involved," says Becky Hettema, a Booksin parent and active volunteer for the Booksin Elementary School Community Association (BESCA). "So I was shocked when they showed us the boundaries and we were affected. But I still think there's room to change this. We're a small group. We're not asking much."

If the district superintendent, Linda Murray, approves the proposed new school boundaries, the neighborhood--bounded by Minnesota, Newport and Pine/Hamilton Avenues--and the Dry Creek area will fall into Willow Glen Elementary School territory. Currently, the neighborhood is in Booksin's boundaries. Although a grandfather clause would allow resident Booksin kids to continue to attend their elementary school, and a sibling clause would allow their younger brothers and sisters to attend the same school, children moving into the area would attend Willow Glen.

Booksin--a school known for high test scores and active parent volunteers--is not the only school affected by the boundary shift, says Bob Gonzales, the district's administrator for Demographic Planning and Interdistrict Transfers.

"The overall goal was to redraw all the boundaries in the district," Gonzales says, adding that at the start of the redraw process, the 35 families were slated to remain in Booksin land. "It's not just Booksin or Willow Glen that are being affected, it's 17 schools. Geographically, the Minnesota, Newport and Pine area has always been part of Willow Glen, and we felt this was the opportunity to draw more natural boundaries."

The district says the new boundaries will decrease the number of children at Willow Glen Elementary, return kids to their neighborhood schools and establish long-term school boundaries without redistricting the neighborhoods once again.

But the Booksin parents who will be affected by the boundary switch say the move will do none of the above.

"They're trying to decrease the enrollment at Willow Glen Elementary and they're increasing it," says Booksin parent Nancy Gum-Roussel. "They're moving our neighborhood kids out of their neighborhood school for the second time in two years. We have a community on these little streets that we are involved in. Neighbors are going to move in and they're not going to be able to send their kids to Booksin. They're breaking apart our community."

A federal judge's decision in 1996 to send elementary students back to neighborhood schools triggered the need for new boundaries. This same decision initially drew the Minnesota, Newport and Pine area into Booksin boundaries--a community that previously was a Willow Glen Elementary neighborhood.

The parents also blame J. Michael Gonzales, the Booksin parent representative who sat on the boundary advisory task force for keeping them out of the communication loop. Gonzales is also the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president.

"We've been kept in the dark because of J. Michael Gonzales," says Carrie Maietta, a Booksin parent and member of the elected school-site council. "He has not reported anything to anybody at the school. Other parents have notified their school and communities. He never met with the school site council, BESCA or the Booksin principal."

J. Michael Gonzales says the parents are focusing on the wrong target.

"The issue is not really me," he says. "I think it's a good process and I don't think anyone's been left out. It's true that when you redraw boundaries you've got to change and change is difficult, but we still think that the school they will be attending is a good school."

Superintendent Murray is expected to make her recommendation to the board in September. A public hearing will be held at that time although no date has been set.

Some parents, however, fear the decision has already been made.

"I feel they've made their choices," BESCA president Pat Georgoff says. "A lot of times the district has thought the Booksin parents were a lot of whiners, and sometime the squeaky wheel is the one that gets listened to, but in this case we are losing some very active parents."

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