Concerned parents and friends of Machado School voiced their
fears that the Morgan Hill School District plans to close the
school permanently.
Concerned parents and friends of Machado School voiced their fears that the Morgan Hill School District plans to close the school permanently.
Trustees and district officials at Monday’s board meeting said no decision has been made.
“This has to be discussed in the future,” Board President Tom Kinoshita said Tuesday. “It could be part of a recommendation from the performance-based budget committee.
“It may be appropriate to look at this as a part of the performance-based budget procedure. But we will look at not just putting in a new pump, but also the operating costs of Machado in relation to the other costs of the district.”
District officials closed Machado Elementary, which housed 40 first and second grade students, Jan. 31. The students returned to class on Monday, Feb. 3 in two formerly unoccupied portables on the Paradise Valley Elementary campus.
The school, a registered historic building, closed because the pump for the well which supplies the school with water stopped working completely. The pump had been working sluggishly for several weeks, but was still able to move enough water to serve the school’s restrooms.
“I am deeply concerned about what has happened and what the future might be,” Paul Ward said during Monday’s meeting. He is president of the Machado Heritage Society, and, he told the board, he graduated from the school in 1937, his father in 1910, and his grandfather was one of the original founders of the school.
“We (the society) have an excellent relationship with the district, we’ve been good neighbors, and we are determined to keep it a good one.”
Ward said the Machado Heritage Society, which has maintained the original building as well as contributing to the upkeep of the district’s classroom on the site, would be willing to financially help the district in restoring the water system so students could return to the site.
“We don’t want to see the doors slam on this little bit of Americana,” he said. “The society would be glad to make a substantial donation to keep the water system going … Lets pull together to keep Machado alive.”
The Times published a letter to the editor from Ward society treasurer Hank Marselis on Feb. 21.
Machado parents Karen Boom, Susan Gabbard and Jan Strahan presented the board with comments representative, they said, of Machado parents.
“Machado is the only school in the district that supports the rural experience and culture and values of many families in this community,” said Strahan. “For rural families, it provides validation of the rural lifestyle that is not available on the Paradise Valley campus. In addition, many suburban parents send their children to Machado so that they can experience country life.”
Gabbard noted that parents of Machado students are committed to helping the school.
“The Machado parents love the program and are actively involved,” she said. “Parents enrolled their children in a program that they felt provided the best learning environment for their children. They feel that the benefits of the Machado program outweigh the loss of library and other enrichment programs offered only to students on the Paradise Valley campus. Parents also willingly make a two-year commitment to the program and may undertake the extra cost of bus service from Paradise Valley to Machado.”
Boom said she and other parents think the decision to move the children to the Paradise Valley campus was premature.
“Parents were very surprised at the rush to move students from Machado,” she said. “Those of us who use well water know that when there are pump problems, you call a professional and they usually resolve things fairly quickly.
“Now, based on information from the Machado School Heritage Society, it seems that our children may have experienced an unsettling move that could have been avoided. The district office having made a unilateral decision and spent precious funds moving our children, probably unnecessarily, has now put the entire Machado program in a precarious position where parents must come to the School Board and ask to have it restored.”
The closing or re-opening of the school was not on the agenda, so trustees and district officials did not address the issue, but Trustee Shellé Thomas did ask Superintendent Carolyn McKennan when more information would be provided to the Machado families.
McKennan referred to a Feb. 6 meeting, organized by Machado parents to gather information from district officials about the closure.
“We are still waiting for information,” she said. “I believe we told them we would have to have more information before we could make any decisions.”
Kinoshita said believes at least part of the information the district is waiting on is estimates on pump repair.
The original Machado School was a one-room school built in 1895 by Paradise Valley families on land donated by Barney Machado, son-in-law of Martin Murphy, Sr. A second room was added in 1919.
The building was condemned in 1967 because it did not meet the latest earthquake standards. Classes are now held in two portables – a large classroom and restrooms – on the site.
The Machado building itself was restored by a group of interested residents that formed the Machado Heritage Society in 1980.
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