Dear Editor, This is an open letter to the Morgan Hill Unified
School District Board of Trustees: I would like to thank you for
putting the Coyote Valley development item on the agenda at the
September 12th meeting
Dear Editor,
This is an open letter to the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees:
I would like to thank you for putting the Coyote Valley development item on the agenda at the September 12th meeting. It’s important for people to realize the far-reaching consequences to Morgan Hill schools when Coyote Valley begins to build homes. It is often difficult for people to understand that even though Coyote Valley is located in the City of San Jose that the Morgan Hill Unified School District will be responsible for educating the almost 10,000 children who will live there at full build-out of the project.
I recently presented information to some Home & School Club presidents, as well as other interested members of the community, regarding San Jose’s plan for building 13 new schools in Coyote Valley to support the projected 25,000 new homes and 80,000 people at full build-out. This is in stark contrast to Morgan Hill’s low growth policy of building about 250 homes/year (about 800 people/year in added population).
I also discussed the results of the consultant hired by the school board that showed the current levels of enrollment for MH schools (including at or near capacity elementary schools). Even excluding the projected rapid growth of Coyote Valley, your own and future school boards will have to contend with building additional schools to accommodate our growing population of 48,000 residents in the year 2020 (Morgan Hill General Plan). Given the needs of our own population growth you must, therefore, continue to have a dialogue with the public and carefully study the ramifications of the development of Coyote Valley.
I urge this school board to make a policy decision soon regarding one of the following:
Continue working with San Jose Planning Dept., Coyote Valley Task Force and developers to integrate the building of new schools and incorporate the children of Coyote Valley residents into Morgan Hill Unified School District.
Work with Santa Clara County Commission on School Reorganization to form a new Coyote Valley School District.
If you decide to send information to parents and residents in our district, I urge you to present an honest and fair assessment on both sides of the question. Good arguments can be made for keeping Coyote Valley in the MH School District and for forming a new school district, but the residents must have accurate information in order to make an informed decision.
In any event, I urge this school board to take a stand and publicly vote on a policy that leads to a specific course of action regarding Coyote Valley. You owe that much to the general public and to future school boards who will follow you.
Sincerely,
Robert Benich,
Morgan Hill Planning Commissioner
Santa Clara County Committee on School Reorganization,
Member-At-Large
