The wind whipping around the new Sobrato High School campus
Saturday during the school
’s dedication ceremony brought with it a sense of excitement,
spirit and hope for the future, while many of those who spoke also
referred to the past.
The wind whipping around the new Sobrato High School campus Saturday during the school’s dedication ceremony brought with it a sense of excitement, spirit and hope for the future, while many of those who spoke also referred to the past.
John Sobrato, whose mother and son donated the site’s original 120 acres to the Morgan Hill School District, told the standing-room-only crowd about his mother, Ann, the school’s namesake.
“Thanks to the taxpayers who are paying for this school, the parents and the volunteers,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, whose Congressional District once included Morgan Hill. “The first graduating class of this school has a very special obligation, to really set the stage for the future … This is only step one on the journey to become an absolutely phenomenal institution in education … I want to come back here and talk to young people in their government class.
“I want to be your partner in the most important thing we can do today, which is to give every child an excellent education opportunity.”
Many who spoke during the ceremony remembered the difficulties that have plagued the community, the district and the School Board in building the school. Superintendent Carolyn McKennan “remembered” the creation of Live Oak Union High School, 100 years ago, referring to the difficulties faced by the educational leaders at that time.
“The more things change the more they stay the same,” McKennan said as she recounted how the organizers could not take possession of the school immediately after it was finished due to some “arbitration with a local contractor,” and other difficulties similar to the ones district officials and School Board trustees had to overcome to open Sobrato.
The campus of the school, which has been controversial from the beginning, is just north of Morgan Hill on approximately 90 acres on the east side of Monterey Road, on Burnett Avenue. It is within the city of San Jose.
Some of the land donated by the Sobrato family is in the greenbelt area and so could not be used for school buildings. After settlement of a lawsuit filed by the City of San Jose against the district and the City of Morgan Hill, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2002. The board chose to hire Turner Construction company, instead of continuing to work with Jacobs Facilities, Inc., the firm that built Barrett Elementary, and the district became embroiled in another lawsuit. A settlement was reached with Jacobs earlier this year, and the school opened its doors on Aug. 24 for approximately 700 9th and 10th grade students.
The school, built at a cost of nearly $80 million, will be a 9-12 grade comprehensive high school by August 2006. Because of the opening of the new school, 9th grade students are housed at the high schools for the first time in 27 years, instead of at the middle schools. Many of the speakers during the dedication ceremony Saturday mentioned that benefit of the high school’s opening.
But the focus was on school spirit and thanking those involved in building the school.
Morgan Hill City Councilman Larry Carr, a former School Board member who was on the board at the time the site for Sobrato was selected, emceed the event, introducing dignitaries to the crowd. A performance by the 18-member Sobrato spirit squad, as well as the first public performance by the Sobrato band, drew cheers and sustained applause from the crowd.
Gene Scothorn, an engineer with Civil Consultants Group (CCG) who has worked with the district though the building of the school, presented Principal Rich Knapp and ASB student leader Abhilasha Devaraj with framed Sobrato T-shirts, one showing the front, which has “Bulldogs” written on it, the other displaying the back, which says “Born 8/24/04.”Scothorn also told the audience he was on campus earlier in the day, when the girls field hockey team was getting ready for a game.
“We heard this noise, and the adviser stuck her head in the door and said, ‘They’re barking’” he said. “I said, ‘I know they’re Bulldogs, but they sound more like Pekinese.’ So the adviser told them, ‘Bark deeper!’ And they did. Go Bulldogs!”
There were many laughs during the ceremony, as some speakers put in humorous light the problems that have beset the district. School Board President George Panos’ speech was serious, as if to say to naysayers, the school was built despite it all.
“Today we celebrate promises, a promise kept and a promise for tomorrow,” he said. “As board president, I can say today also marks a renewal of our commitment to you.”
Abhilasha summed up the mood for most of the students and families attending the ceremony with her speech. She thanked those responsible, as did all the other speakers at length, but she also talked about the atmosphere on the new campus. “I can’t express how happy we feel to come to a school where teachers are happy to be where they are,” she said.
Other local and state dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the event, including Mayor Dennis Kennedy, council members Greg Sellers and Hedy Chang, San Jose City Councilman Forrest Williams, a representative from State Sen. Bruce McPherson’s office, plus previous board members, officers of the Morgan Hill Police Department and the Santa Clara County Fire Department.
