On several occasions over the past few years, the public has
asked the Board, and the Board has asked the administration for a
comprehensive budget to support the opening of Sobrato High School.
Now, with just a few short months remaining before the scheduled
opening, we begin to see such a report calling for around $500,000
in general fund dollars to operate the school.
On several occasions over the past few years, the public has asked the Board, and the Board has asked the administration for a comprehensive budget to support the opening of Sobrato High School. Now, with just a few short months remaining before the scheduled opening, we begin to see such a report calling for around $500,000 in general fund dollars to operate the school.
Before getting lost in the analysis of dollars that we do not have, I would like to encourage you to use “sense” instead. Redefining the mission and scope of Sobrato is a viable, responsible and arguably a preferable alternative to committing scarce district resources. Opening a school that will offer little gain to the district’s educational goals while monopolizing building fund dollars and encroaching on the general fund is not justified. Although a nine-12 grade configuration remains desirable, current plans for Sobrato as a comprehensive high school are not the only method to achieve such a grade format.
Opening Sobrato as a ninth grade satellite campus, an expanded continuation high school, or even as a nine-10 campus with Live Oak as an 11-12 campus, are all alternatives that would allow the district to meet grade configuration goals as well as contain costs.
The School Board retains the authority and has the responsibility to consider such options before committing resource that are in much dire need elsewhere.
As an example of such alternatives, opening Sobrato as a continuation high school offers many opportunities. Relocating Central to Sobrato allows for a site closure to help control operating costs. The possibility of selling the Central site could produce building dollars to help finish the many unfinished projects at Live Oak and needy elementary and middle school sites.
It also would allow for reducing administrative costs by saving a principal position. It would provide much needed increased continuation student capacity, allowing for a greater number of continuation qualified students to be moved to a more suitable location. It would control operating costs for extracurricular programs as none need be offered at a continuation school. Contentious boundary issues would disappear, as students would be placed according to need rather than address.
Shifting qualified students to Sobrato based on achievement and disciplinary criteria would allow Live Oak to operate as a 9-12 campus with a greatly improved climate. Public perception of our school district could improve overnight as students are held responsible for both academic progress and behavior. Test scores would immediately improve in the high school and middle schools, as students would have a vested interest in their placement.
Student academic support and social programs could focus on providing a bridge for students leaving the continuation school. School back to high school, school to work, school to vocational school, school to military and school to apprenticeship programs could provide all students access and exposure to the realistic range of possibilities awaiting them after high school.
Our district could boast a high school that rivals Los Gatos and Saratoga by next year. We might even begin to recapture the lost private school enrollment plaguing our district. A willingness to control costs could help to mend employee relations and restore public confidence in our trustees.
Valley Christian High School and others would no longer waste advertising dollars in our town because they would not be able to compete with our equal or better free public education. Real estate agents wouldn’t have to answer inquiries about the local schools with embarrassment and a list of local private schools. Representatives of our district’s own administration would no longer confide in community members that “private schools are the only way if you really care about your kids.”
A lot of positives could come out of a change in direction; instead, like a runaway truck this district is headed for a terrible wreck. The community reads of the “increasing violence” at Live Oak. The district ignores falling enrollment while quietly trying to bolster that enrollment by taking in other district’s expulsions. District leaders champion the noble cause of “college for all” and a standards-based education while adopting such standards has resulted in a watering down of many courses. The district pares down the elective curriculum to college prep only then wonders why dropout rates increase.
Trustees allow Sobrato to monopolize scarce building funds and command operating funds when there are far more urgent needs elsewhere. Employees and citizens are antagonized to the brink of votes of “no confidence” and recall petitions. Leadership responsible for the dismal state of affairs continues to be supported.
District trustees are in the driver’s seat. It is time for them to pick for their heads up and look where they are leading us. This district is headed for a wreck and time for corrective measures is passing.
Glen Webb is a teacher at Live Oak High School. Readers interested in writing a guest column should contact editor Walt Glines at ed******@*************es.com
