The situation is straining an already tense relationship between the district and residents who feel that the increased traffic gridlocks the street, creates noise pollution and could prevent fire trucks or ambulances from getting through in the event of an emergency.

"This is unconscionable," said Carol Myers, a district board trustee who represents Willow Glen schools. "This is another example of the district treating Willow Glen like a doormat simply because the two schools are close together and located conveniently in the center of the city."

An average of 15 buses per day deliver students for classes that begin at 8 a.m., and according to some Dry Creek Road residents, take another hour to leave as they negotiate a narrow street filled with residents' cars and students who drive themselves to school.

The situation repeats itself for about 45 minutes around 2 p.m., when school lets out.

Catherine Lombardo, who's lived on Dry Creek Road for 39 years, said she never had any problem with the school district or the high school until the district decided in the spring of 2002 to move the bus drop-off point from Cottle Avenue to Dry Creek Road. The 15-plus buses that appeared across from her home without any warning or notification from the district amplified her annoyance.

Lombardo recalls one day when she was driving home during the first week of summer school. "I couldn't even get into my garage," she said. "It took me 15 minutes to get from Cottle to my house. It was ridiculous."

Another longtime Dry Creek Road resident, Helen Brady, has also had problems with ambivalence from the district.

"It seems the district isn't aware of what this does to our street," Brady said of the bus convoy. "They never seem to stop to think and ask us, 'What are your thoughts?' "

So far residents have no complaints about students behaving badly and are glad that after the first two days of summer school, the drop-off and pickup procedure has become efficient. Nevertheless, the long line of buses waiting for passengers has residents concerned about congestion, noise and safety.

Summer school has traditionally been held at other schools depending on their availability, said Rose Bedard-Carr, the district's director of auxiliary services, who was at the school helping direct traffic the first couple days when summer school began July 7.

According to Bonnie Pische, the district's director of secondary education, summer school has not been held at Willow Glen middle or high school in five years. And because most of the other schools in the district are undergoing construction projects during the summer, the district elected to send its middle and high school students to Willow Glen.

To cut costs and reduce the impact on the neighborhood, the district also decided to shorten the summer school session from six weeks to four but will still run the classes six hours a day, five days a week.

Bedard-Carr said that the district has partnered with the San Jose Police Department and is providing security on the street so that in an emergency there would be no problems with getting help.

Pische said that the number of buses arriving at a school where summer school is held is always slightly greater than during the normal school year.

"We do try to create a situation that works for both the school and the neighborhood," Pische said. "We also know that even though it's crowded now, Cottle has more traffic and having a drop-off there would have been much worse."

The schools face Cottle Avenue, which has T-intersections, a Valley Transportation Authority bus stop and parking spaces that can't be blocked off by school buses waiting for passengers.

Bedard-Carr said she was involved in the decision to move the bus drop-off from Cottle Avenue to Dry Creek Road.

"We worked with the city and the community and looked at the front of the school and decided to move the bus drop-off to Dry Creek Road across from the church," she said.

During the school year, a 400-foot stretch of Dry Creek Road on the schools' side of the street is reserved for buses, but during the summer school session this has been extended to an area that is directly across from a residential area.

Even if the increased number of buses is temporary, it puts more strain on the neighborhood's already uneasy relationship with the district. The district had most recently raised disapproval among residents with its proposal to use bond money to demolish some recently installed tennis and volleyball courts—which are open to the public when school is out—to make room for a bus drop-off and turn-around lot.

While meeting with residents outside their homes recently, Myers advised the homeowners to draft and sign a letter to the district requesting that summer school for middle and high school not be held at both of Willow Glen's secondary schools again.

"And if the district does," Myers said, "I suggest you get a lawyer."