On Sept. 2, the San Jose Unified School District Board of Education approved a 10-year joint-use lease agreement with Presentation High School—an all-girls Catholic private school—and Bellarmine College Preparatory—an all-boys Jesuit private school—for the shared use of four tennis courts at Willow Glen Middle School.

Under the agreement, Presentation and Bellarmine will fund the renovation of the tennis courts, which are currently in such a state of disrepair that they are unusable. The schools will pay to resurface the courts, replace damaged fencing, replace poles, repair gates and install windscreens. The schools have also agreed to finance the resurfacing of the courts during the lease's seventh year.

In return, the schools will have use of the courts Monday through Friday from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and access to the courts until 7 p.m. six to eight times a year when they have matches. The schools' tennis season runs from Aug. 1 to Dec. 1 and Jan. 1 to May 30.

The agreement, however, was not initially without controversy. Originally, the lease stated that the courts would be locked at all times when not in use, but local residents complained and policy was changed.

Willow Glen resident and involved parent Bob Mulvany addressed his concerns to the school board about Willow Glen Middle School students being restricted from using the tennis courts. However, after the Sept. 2 meeting, he said the agreement seemed reasonable.

"It sounds like a pretty good deal, considering the district's budget constraints," he said. "I would prefer that the tennis courts be replaced as soon as possible through Measure F funding and that the middle school students get first dibs on them. But overall, the agreement will probably work out OK."

"The school hasn't had tennis courts it can use for years," San Jose Unified School District property consultant Sonja Shurr said. "The only reason to lock the courts was to prevent skateboarders from entering and damaging the courts. But if we do something good for the tennis courts and have something good people can play on, then I don't think we need to lock them."

Shurr also said that Measure F funding would not have been allocated to repair the tennis courts until 2007 and that it would only provide for the resurfacing of the courts. The lease agreement, however, will address the courts' immediate needs and provide complete renovation.

She described the agreement as a "win-win situation for students, teachers and the community."

And although it will benefit schools and the community, Mulvany said, "The one question I would ask further down the road is at what point can the agreement be modified? If two or three years down the road the middle school has a tennis team, and they want to use the courts more frequently, can this work out?"