Residents who live near Willow Glen High School are concerned that the $28 million allocated to the school from Measure F is going toward the wrong projects.

Several Willow Glen homeowners who attended a district community meeting on June 12 left in shock when they learned that plans to renovate WGHS facilities included the removal of its tennis courts, which had been surfaced in 2002, a brand-new volleyball court and batting cage to make way for additional parking and a bus turnaround.

Charles Corr, the district's recently retired director of facilities and construction, said he sympathizes with residents and their concerns but emphasizes that the implementation plan is anything but concrete.

"The most frequent request we got from residents was to get the buses off the streets," Corr said.

Because the buses have no place to enter and turn around on campus, students are picked up and dropped off at the curb on Dry Creek Road, a narrow street with a row of nine homes on the opposite side.

Residing just across from the bus dropoff is Helen Brady, a staunch supporter of the school but not of the district.

"I can't believe they want to tear all this out," Brady said, referring to the removal of the tennis and volleyball courts and batting cage.

She and her husband use the tennis courts and are grateful that they're open to the public when school is out.

But as now drawn, the draft cuts a long driveway through the campus off Dry Creek Road and opens into a large turnaround that would require removing the courts, a batting cage and a part of the softball playing field.

Resident Helen Beth Morris, who also attended the meeting, was equally unhappy with the draft. Yet neither woman realized what the drawings implied until Willow Glen High School Athletic Director Peggy Booth brought it to their attention.

Morris said, "I was shocked when I saw the plans. Last year I walked the campus with the high school's former principal, Pat Day, and he told me they won't tear up that area."

Morris has tried to voice her concerns to the district but said working with the administrators in the district is continually frustrating because they are so unresponsive.

"The district didn't even talk to the San Jose police or city traffic engineers or involve any of the neighbors before making these decisions," she said.

Corr, however, says that the district-wide project is strictly a draft and that everything is still in the planning stage, not the design phase.

"We knew we would hear from neighbors if we moved the bus drop-off," Corr said, "but we'd have heard from even more if we didn't."

He added, "Some projects may be dropped for others and the plan will change."

Under the present draft the access drive, parking lot and bus drop-off at the high school will cost an estimated $1.09 million to reconfigure.

Corr said that Turner Construction—the company contracted to draw up the designs for each school—arbitrarily placed bus drop-offs on all school blueprints.

"Figuratively speaking," Corr said, "they used a wide paintbrush to paint a small illustration of something that in reality may not even be built to scale."

It's that kind of vague planning that annoyed Allen Rice, a member of the independent citizens bond oversight committee. His complaint is that construction projects need to be clearly identified and each project line-item listed in no more than quarter-million dollar increments.

"You cannot be specific with projects that cost more than a million dollars," said Rice, who's lived in Willow Glen for 16 years.

The June community meetings were the district's chance to inform the public about the status of the bond measure approved in March 2002. Measure F is a $429 million bond package to be used only for facility improvements. The bond taxes property owners $60 for every $100,000 worth of their assessed property values over the next 30 years. The measure will generate the necessary revenue to renovate the district's schools, making them safer and more productive by upgrading plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilation systems, replacing portable classrooms, renovating restrooms, installing new roofing and removing asbestos.

The purpose of the community meetings was to collect comments and concerns from citizens about the plan and review the information before submitting a plan to the district's governing board of trustees for approval.

Originally the board was going to vote on the plan at its July 1 meeting, but Corr said the district needs more time to make minor changes to the plan based on the community's suggestions. The board of trustees is now scheduled to vote on the plan in August.

The board did, however, give the district permission to begin certain projects, such as restoring restrooms, flatwork, utilities and a central kitchen, which will act as a service and supply hub for all the district's schools.

Under its present design, Area 3 Trustee Carol Myers, who oversees Willow Glen's public schools, would veto the plan. She said the plan is incomplete and that too much money would be spent to construct the bus turnaround.

"I think the general feeling of the neighbors is that they want fewer buses," Myers said.

Myers also told the Willow Glen Resident that high school Principal Elaine Farace wanted to see more money allocated toward the improvement of the school's science facilities and less toward busing. Myers plans to discuss these issues and the residents' concerns with Superintendent Linda Murray.

As the plan continues to go through its draft phases, residents Morris and Brady are pushing for stronger communication between the district and neighbors living in the area.

"We realize that we live around a school and need to take responsibility," said Morris. "But the district needs to be involved with the community."

For more information about the Measure F Bond Oversight Committee, visit http://www.sjusd.k12.ca.us/Bonds_Construction/MeasureF/MeasureF.html or call the San Jose Unified School District at 408.535.6000.

Moryt Milo contributed to this report.