By Sara Ballenger

The Save Our Staff parent volunteer fund-raising campaign for the Los Altos School District officially ended its pledge drive with a June 3 announcement that $1,405, 831.36 in donations had been collected.

The foundation raised enough money through donations to reinstate 19 teaching positions.

“We may even have to hire some new teachers,” said Superintendent Marge Gratiot.

The district had to lay off 26 temporary teachers the day after Measure A, also known as the parcel tax, failed to pass in a special election April 9.

“The failure of Measure A triggered a whole range of emotions - disbelief, fear and anger,” said SOS chairwoman Maria Dickerson. “Two of my friends and I turned these emotions into action. We knew others must feel the same and we took the risk to try and make a difference.”

The SOS campaign began in earnest with its phone-a-thon, May 6. A total of 1,638 families donated to SOS, according to Dickerson. Eighty-five percent of contributions were from parents with children in the district and 15 percent were from non-parents.

“The community support is phenomenal,” said Los Altos School District board member, Duane Roberts. “It makes me proud to be a part of this community, and we need to keep the enthusiasm going for the Los Altos Educational Foundation and all of the fund-raising efforts.”

Any excess money that SOS has raised will go toward the goal of continued class-size reduction in middle schools and upper primary grades 4-6, Dickerson added.

“Let’s not forget that despite the huge pledges from SOS and LAEF, $2 million must be cut from the school budget,” Dickerson said. “The only way to avoid this scenario in the next few years is to adequately fund our schools through a parcel tax increase this November.”