By Sara Ballenger

Students, teachers and residents made impassioned pleas to the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Board of Trustees at the April 8 board meeting to save the Learning Community program at Los Altos High School. The program stands to be cut in the fall.

The final decision is up to Principal George Perez, since the program is funded through the school’s general fund, rather than the district. Learning Community is a 30-year-old program at the high school. The interdisciplinary studies program meets four hours a day.

Each student develops an individualized study contract, mapping out core and elective course work to be completed for credit.

The suggestion to cut the program came from the Los Altos High Leadership Committee, comprising 25 teachers and administrators, which had the task of determining which programs to cut due to budget constraints. The district must reduce its budget by approximately $1 million for the 2002-03 school year, said Superintendent Rich Fischer.

“Budget cuts mean that something has to go,” Perez said. “I feel very good about the process. Teachers were involved, data was gathered. Learning Community is a supplemental program, not a core program.”

Learning Community was cut for lack of enrollment, Fischer said. As of the April 8 school board meeting, no funding or staff had been assigned to Learning Community on the master schedule, the grid of classes that will be offered for the next school year.

“The program simply isn’t getting enough enrollment to justify continuation,” he said. “The committee tried to do a very objective job of looking at the entire offerings at the school, and if the program was truly meeting a need by having enough students.”

Currently, classes are required to have 25 students. At the time of the committee’s last meeting April 1, Learning Community had 10 full-time equivalent students enrolled, according to Fischer.

Gary Bacon, who began Learning Community, disagrees.

“I had 23 signed student registration forms in hand at the meeting,” he said. “At the time of the vote, other courses with lower enrollments were not eliminated from the schedule.”

The financial picture for the district and projected staffing is based on projected enrollment, Perez said.

Supporters say that the program now has the required enrollment and that what needs to be looked at is not the financial gain but the personal gain of the students.

“The issue is about a paradigm of education that empowers young people to take charge of who they are and what they do - and whose successes threaten the status quo,” Bacon said. “It is about 25 students, with the support of their parents, wanting to keep an educational alternative alive, because its value has been clearly demonstrated in their own lives.”

Several parents and students spoke at the board meeting to state how the program had affected their lives or the lives of their children.

“My daughter is a current and future Learning Community student,” said Mary Kay Downs. “The program has a legacy of turning out educated, confident, empowered and socially responsible individuals. I think we owe it to these young people to maintain a product of excellence.”

One former student, Daniel Carr, credits the program with changing his life. “The Learning Community transformed my life,” he said. “I received an education that’s not only strengthened my intellect but my character as well. Without the Learning Community, I would not have the dedication, skills or love of life to be who I am.”

While the final decision to cut school-site programs is up to Perez, supporters are hoping that the board will direct the superintendent to recommend funding for the program or have the district fund the program.

“The opportunity to appeal is never passed,” Perez said. “I am always willing to listen. Our schedule is pretty soft until mid-August because of staffing issues.”

Supporters will be meeting with Perez today to discuss options.

“If there is new information that was not available to the Leadership Committee at the time, that there is a substantial requested enrollment, maybe that will be the catalyst to look at the decision and reinstate the program,” said parent John Carosella.