to operate schools
As one of the parents on the 1998-99 Facilities Planning Committee, I want to clear up some confusion regarding the Los Altos School District’s decisions over the last four years. At the start of 1998, a group of over 40 parents, teachers, administrators, members of the school board and city council, and other community leaders came together to assess the condition of the district’s eight campuses and to recommend what action was required.
The immediate problem was the overcrowding at the existing campuses. The long-term need was to repair and renovate all existing facilities, and to construct new buildings to accommodate an ever-growing student population.
After Measure H was passed in late 1998, the committee worked with the school board to refine the master plan and budget. In order to provide the quickest relief at the existing campuses, the former Covington site was chosen to be one of the first to be renovated. Temporary campuses (or “camp schools”) were set up at the two junior highs to speed up construction at the existing schools, and to avoid the safety and noise issues of students and teachers sharing a building site.
One reason for the current confusion is that bond money raised for school construction cannot be used for operating expenses. Thus, parcel taxes are critical for school districts to close the gap caused by the uncertainties (and inequities) of education funding from the state.
Terrill Tanaka
Los Altos
No St. Nicholas
position on pathways
I am writing to the citizens of Los Altos Hills regarding the controversy surrounding the pathways issue. I have been informed by a resident of Los Altos Hills that statements have been made by those in favor of dismantling the trails that St. Nicholas parish holds the position in their favor.
Let it be stated for the record that our parish holds NO position on this matter and I have personally written several letters to this effect. The trails issue is a political one and our parish wishes to remain neutral on this matter. We have been blessed as a faith community by the participation of many of our parishioners who reside in Los Altos Hills and our parish school which is located within the town boundaries has enjoyed a positive relationship with our neighbors.
I am saddened that this issue has been so unpleasant for everyone affected. I would hope that this conflict will be resolved through kindness and diplomacy rather than the savage approach which has been so hurtful.
Rev. Gary Thomas, Pastor
St. Nicholas Church
Misleading mailer
about open space plan
Los Altos Hills Councilman Steve Finn sent out a mailer to residents recently, warning them that the proponents of the Los Altos Hills Open Space Initiative are misleading neighbors of Westwind Community Barn.
The Finn mailer suggests that a “public recreation” designation for Westwind could result in soccer fields which would produce traffic, congestion, parking problems, etc.
The opposite is true. It is Councilman Finn who is doing the misleading. The implication of the Finn mailer is that Westwind Community Barn should be designated as Open Space not Public Recreation — the designation that properly belongs to this property.
The Open Space designation allows only passive open space uses -hiking, riding, jogging, nature study, grazing, etc. Structures, such as a large full service barn with riding arenas, are not permitted Open Space uses.
There are only two other designations that are possible to describe this property - Public or Private Recreation. As the Barn is owned by the Town, it obviously should carry the Public Recreation designation.
It is no longer a privately-owned stable.
The committee of residents who have been working on the Los Altos Hills Open Space and Public Recreation Initiative have invested time, money, and energy to come up with a strong initiative that will protect the significant environmental, aesthetic, scenic, and recreational benefits that lands provide to the community.
What Palo Alto accomplished back in the 1960s is exactly what the residents of Los Altos Hills would like to achieve - the long-term preservation of their Town-owned open space and recreation properties.
Those of us working on the initiative are doing so to preserve Westwind Community Barn as the community asset it now is and to assure that it will remain so for future generations.
Nancy Couperus
LAH Open Space Committee
Los Altos Hills
Support for girls’
self-defense program
Los Altos High School needs community support for a very far-reaching and worthwhile program. Now in its third year of operation, freshman girls are given a course during PE in self-defenseóphysical defense as well as how to assess and avoid dangerous situations.
Adolescent girls who experience dating violence (and in one study of a New Jersey high school, this was one quarter of the girls), rarely tell anyone, and are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, poor self-esteem, poor school performance, drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and pregnancy.
Twenty-five percent of college girls who have been sexually assaulted subsequently attempt suicide.
In addition, as these girls grow up and become women, they experience more chronic and painful medical symptoms, have symptoms that do not respond to treatment, and show reduced immune function. They may have relationship problems, both as partners and parents, and may even experience flashbacks during routine gynecology exams or at delivery, and never tell anyone.
Your donation to this vital program may truly change a girl’s life. Contact Linda Sommer at 960-8854 or
Harise Stein, MD
Los Altos
