EDITOR: At the latest MHSD Board meeting, it was apparent that
once again the Board and Superintendent Carolyn McKennan have made
a typical decision: To do nothing (which will enable them to then
lament the fact that there
’s nothing they can do). I was disappointed about a couple of
things.
EDITOR:
At the latest MHSD Board meeting, it was apparent that once again the Board and Superintendent Carolyn McKennan have made a typical decision: To do nothing (which will enable them to then lament the fact that there’s nothing they can do). I was disappointed about a couple of things.
First, I believe we heard President George Panos state that he needs to write a letter to the SJ City Council stating the MHSD’s concerns about Coyote Valley. Perhaps I misunderstood him. I hope I misunderstood him because many months ago, when the issue of Coyote Valley was first raised, Mr. Panos stated they needed to send a letter about the MHSD’s concerns about the effect of the Coyote Valley plan on the school district. Has he sent any letter? It doesn’t sound like he has. One thing that is very interesting is that a draft of concerns for a letter was practically dictated to the school board by Jack Schreder of Jack Schreder & Associates during a presentation made to the school board on June 9. Have the points raised by Mr. Schreder been incorporated into a letter to San Jose? If, in fact, no such letter addressing our concerns has been sent, then such a lack of action is disgraceful, yet normal, for the Board.
Second, it was apparent, from comments made by various Board members, that they have no idea about the imminence of decisions that are about to be made about the Coyote Valley Plan by the San Jose City Council. Our esteemed Board does not seem to be aware that our days in which to even state our concerns are severely numbered. Time is running out. What part of that is not understood? We have to convey any potential concerns to the San Jose City Council by Thursday, July 29, when the Technical Advisory Committee is supposed to give their feedback and opinions to the city.
Superintendent McKennan is supposed to speak for us on that date, as the technical adviser representing Morgan Hill schools, if we want to have any options in the future. This brings to mind another scary point. The superintendent stated, at the latest Board meeting, that the meeting had been canceled and she didn’t know when the next meeting was going to be. Did she ever bother to try to find out? Perhaps she should have given the sensitivity of the issue and the general public knowledge that decisions will be made in August about the Coyote Valley Plan. Did she read the entire notification that the meeting had been canceled? Perhaps a reschedule date was in that notification? Other people knew about the new date of the meeting.
I don’t know whether it is positive or negative to retain Coyote Valley in our school district. However, if we want to have options, our school board must do something that they have historically been incapable of doing, and that is to be proactive. The Board must officially notify the San Jose City Council of potential areas of concern. By not doing so, we are soon going to have absolutely no options and will, once again, be at the mercy of that city (San Jose) up north. That city which has repeatedly made decisions affecting Morgan Hill, with little or any, consideration of the ramifications of those decisions on Morgan Hill. Do we want that again?
Victoria Battison,
Morgan Hill
Editor’s note: Superintendent McKennan said Monday she will be at the July 29 meeting to convey district concerns about Coyote Valley development.
