March 4, 2004

Two schools will close: Lone Hill and Athenour
Measure G narrowly defeated

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Union School District will close Lone Hill and Athenour Elementary Schools after the current school year ends in order to stave off bankruptcy. The district currently is redrawing boundaries in hopes of making the transition to the remaining six elementary schools as easy as possible.

The district had hoped that Measure G, a tax of $195 per parcel in the district area, would eliminate the need for school closure, but the measure was defeated by a mere 2 percentage points. The district must offer a balanced budget and with the cuts mandated by the state, cannot afford to run eight elementary schools. The decision to close the schools was made within 12 hours of the election results to meet the timeline established by the district.

The closures were determined by a number of factors, including proximity to other schools, traffic flow, pedestrian safety, ultimate school size, cost of site upgrades and marketability of the closed schools, said Superintendent Phil Quon. “We had to look at a number of criteria, both subjective and objective. Based on a number of factors, these two schools were logically the best candidates.”

Both Lone Hill and Athenour are in close proximity to Noddin and Leitz elementary schools while the remaining four schools—Alta Vista, Carlton, Guadalupe and Oster—are geographically farther away. And, while modernization of the school structures was not a high priority affecting the decision, Quon noted that Lone Hill might compete better, “provide a higher lease rate and be more marketable,” because it has been upgraded.

In the meantime, Quon was to notify the Lone Hill and Athenour administrations on Wednesday afternoon the same time letters were being mailed to the affected parents. The official announcement was scheduled for Thursday along with a new boundary map showing redrawn boundaries to shift school populations more equitably, said Quon.

Public meetings are scheduled for March 15 and 22 to discuss the school closings and to get input on the proposed school boundaries. “I think the [new boundary] lines are good, and I'm happy with the boundary shifts because they balance the enrollments and meet traffic flow and safety issues. “ The board will vote at a special meeting on March 22 at 7:30 p.m. to affect all the changes.

Likely staff reductions will occur in the operational staff of the two elementary schools, Quon said. Typically this will mean the school health aid, secretary, custodian and possibly the principal will receive pink slips. However, the district is hoping that retirements will eliminate layoffs. The teachers are still needed because the students will still be there, Quon said. They will be placed and assigned to another school. “Some teachers teach in pairs and others prefer particular grade levels. We will try to accommodate them as much as possible,” he added.

Hard fought race
It was a long election night for Measure G supporters. Results for the $195 parcel tax that would ensure that all eight of Union School District's elementary schools would remain open trickled in very slowly. The final vote tally was about 62 percent counted when the election night party broke up around 11 p.m.

Before everyone left the party, Bryon Henderson toasted the campaign workers and thanked them for their hard work. “No matter what the results, we worked hard and we should be proud of the job we did.”

Less than an hour later, the cliffhanger was over with the measure just 2 percentage points under the 66.6 percent needed for a win. That left the superintendent and school board with a lot of work to do within the next 24 hours.

More than 300 volunteers had been working hard since January to garner the votes needed to stop the school closures. Many had worked very hard to canvass, phone, go door to door and spend election day to ensure the measure would pass. Some even worked as sandwich boards on election day.

At the election night party, volunteers were recalling their hard work, and praising the work of a number of people who helped whose children were grown or who were retired and wanted to ensure the measure would pass. Coordinator Byron Henderson recalled a group of women aged 64-plus who spent a number of hours staffing phone banks. Other parents and non-parents spent their days, nights and weekends working for the parcel tax passage.

Union District Foundation
Some of the money to help with the campaign came from a foundation that volunteers started last summer with Dave Kempski and Nancy Hamm heading up the cause. Modeled after foundations that districts in Orinda, Los Gatos and Cupertino have developed, the Union District's foundation is designed to for academics and enrichment classes. It's mission is to keep core curriculum, solidify academic excellence and maintain low class sizes while ensuring that music and the arts classes are brought back to elementary schools as regular classes.

“Nancy Hamm and I started initial fund raising this summer,” said Kempski, “but put it on hold and started working and putting our resources into campaigning. We did roll the program out at back-to-school nights, but with the possibility of school closures, people were more concerned about keeping schools open. Once the dust settles on the campaign, it's up to the parents and school leaders to put our efforts back into fund-raising,” he said.

The district has the right kind of momentum, but has to get past the parcel tax election, he said. Parents, he said are enthusiastic about the foundation and some local businesses, including Double Ds in Los Gatos, the Bunny Hutch in Cambrian, Willow Street Pizza and the Iron Skillet have already pledged to have provide help. Xilinx was a good supporter of the Measure G campaign, he added and other corporations and businesses as well as parents are ready and willing to help. He expects it will take the foundation about two years to get “off the ground.”