A piece of Morgan Hill history is being threatened. After 108
years of continuous education for children at Machado School, there
are no children at the site anymore. All of a sudden two weeks ago,
the children were moved to Paradise Valley School.
EDITOR:
What happened to Machado School?
A piece of Morgan Hill history is being threatened. After 108 years of continuous education for children at Machado School, there are no children at the site anymore. All of a sudden two weeks ago, the children were moved to Paradise Valley School.
What happened? There was a “total well failure” according to the school district. Before even consulting a well maintenance professional, kids, teachers and all their books, equipment and other paraphernalia were moved out.
The Machado School Heritage Society, which takes care of the old school building, also located at the site, got permission from the school district to have a well professional come out at our expense and give us an estimate of the damage. Well, while he was there, he fixed the “total well failure” for a minimal cost that we covered. All the well needed was some professional help.
The school district maintenance people are great guys, but they cannot have professional knowledge of technical problems in every area of their work. So all the turmoil of moving could have been avoided if the district had called in the right help.
Why are we afraid the children never will come back? Especially when district officials assured a meeting of concerned parents and citizens that no action would/could occur until after the school board meets Feb. 24. So how come last week the garbage collection was discontinued and the telephone disconnected?
We know it takes a little extra money to have 40 children at Machado rather then Paradise Valley School, but “so what”? There’s a budget crunch in California this year, the district stated. We ask you, gentle readers, do you think this is the only “budget crunch” we have had at Machado School since 1895? Quite a bit of crunching was going on in the 1930’s, and no one tried to solve it by closing a beautiful school. For a couple of dollars we take joyful schooling away from 40 kids a year.
How do you put a price tag on the benefits children experience when looking out their school window to see wild turkeys and deer pass by? What’s it worth to have recess where children can play in the grass under majestic trees instead of asphalt and have a running creek as their boundary?
On top of all this, we, the people of Morgan Hill, stand to lose the property because it can revert back to the heirs if the site is not used for “school purposes” as specified in the deed.
Wouldn’t it be a shame to lose a half million dollars property and an educational jewel just to save a few bucks? Looks to us penny-wise and pound-foolish.
We ask the MHUSD to retract and bring those kids back to Machado School.
Paul Ward, President
Henk Marselis, Treasurer
Machado School Heritage Society
