The Board of Education has been faced with many difficult
decisions this year, and will be faced with many more before the
next election in November 2004. According to the aggressive
timetable of the School District, the new Sobrato High will be open
by then, for half of the district’s ninth and tenth graders. Is
that realistic?
The Board of Education has been faced with many difficult decisions this year, and will be faced with many more before the next election in November 2004. According to the aggressive timetable of the School District, the new Sobrato High will be open by then, for half of the district’s ninth and tenth graders. Is that realistic?
And many on the Live Oak High staff wonder about the district’s commitment to renovations that will make the physical plants more or less equal.
But most of the difficult decisions facing the board in the future will revolve around the new high school, including awarding construction bids, approving change orders, approval of boundaries redrawn by the boundary committee and curriculum issues. These last two duties, despite the fact that there are little or no monetary issues involved, could be the most contentious of all.
Concerning boundaries, there is no way trustees will ever please everyone.No matter how conscientious the committee is, no matter how fair the proposal(s), someone, and likely more than one someone, will not be pleased because their child will not be going to the school of their choice.
In deciding how the two high schools will be structured, however, trustees are strolling through a virtual minefield. There is already a swell of uneasiness rising, as parents wonder if their child’s sport/activity/foreign language/etc. will be offered at the school their child is designated to attend.What if Billy wants to take French but it’s only offered at Live Oak? What if Susie wants to take welding and it’s only offered at Sobrato? Which, according to Live Oak Principal Nancy Serigstad, is indeed the case. (The French part is speculation.)
Serigstad also said that Morgan Hill will have two comprehensive high schools, and we believe that is what she believes to be true. However, will the students that open Sobrato – and right now, unless trustees do not approve Planning Principal Rich Knapp’s recommendation, that’s half the district ninth and tenth graders in 2004 – have a comprehensive school? Will they have a complete high school experience, which Knapp has been pleading for all ninth graders to have? If the new school does indeed have a football team, if it does have a marching band, if it does have a water polo team, how competitive will these groups be against other schools?
Obviously, we do not want our children to participate in these activities only to win. But if these ninth and tenth graders are “building the culture” of the new school, will they have all the options they would have had if the current high school had simply been expanded to accommodate them?
We are building two high schools, there’s no turning back now. But trustees need to look carefully at the recommendations from Knapp, from the Ed Specs committee, and others. Yes, the people on the committee will work hard to bring to the board their best possible recommendation, and trustees should not arbitrarily throw their work in the trash can. But neither should they automatically rubber stamp all recommendations.
