The oldest school in the Morgan Hill School District also is in
line for modernization, as School Board trustees voted unanimously
to award a contract for work at Machado Elementary.
The oldest school in the Morgan Hill School District also is in line for modernization, as School Board trustees voted unanimously to award a contract for work at Machado Elementary.
Trustees voted to temporarily close the school in January 2003 after a water pump failed, and in the course of repairing the pump, district officials took a closer look at the modular classroom building and found it was not safe. Later, trustees decided not to pursue opening the school in a budget move.
Although a date for reopening the school, located at 15130 Sycamore Ave. in the foothills west of the city, was not mentioned, the state matching funding of $126,466 must be used or lost, just as in the case of San Martin/Gwinn and Burnett elementaries.
Trustees voted unanimously to approve the purchase and delivery of a modular classroom from Mod-Tech for $130,292.28 and the installation of “all related systems and utility infra-structure” by the Machado Heritage Society.
Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Donna Foster told trustees they need to consider carefully before making a decision to reopen Machado.
“I speak with mixed emotions to this issue,” she said. “I also have to remind the board that this was a cut last year, and there has never been a really open discussion about reinstating it.”
Foster told trustees she was aware of the value of the school, not only to the district but also to the community, but trustees must consider the long-term impact to the general fund budget if the school is reopened. She asked them to consider cuts that have been made in other departments of the district.
Trustee Mike Hickey eminded Foster and the audience that trustees had promised to reopen the school at some point.
“When we cut this last time, it wasn’t in the same category as the other cuts,” he said. “When we made the cut it was promised that it was only temporary.”
Trustee Del Foster (no relation) said the district needs to keep options open.
“I have a similar concern (as Donna Foster),” Foster said. “But I don’t want to eliminate possibilities for the future.”
The school is the district’s oldest school at more than 100 years old. The school’s 40 students, first and second graders, were moved in January 2003 to two vacant portables on the Paradise Valley Elementary campus to complete the school year. The school was officially closed at the end of the school year.
Students did not attend class in the actual old building on the site, although it is maintained by the Machado Heritage Society and used for community events, such as scout meetings, birthday parties and weddings. The students were housed in a classroom building built in the late 1960s, which the new modular building will replace.
