Building costs and gay pride
The March 22 headline (”Building costs through the roof”) and the articles and letters regarding Gay Pride Day contrast with striking irony.
The length of the lead article was needed to define this serious fiscal issue reflecting gross mismanagement in state/local government. The irony is the comparable space on the Gay Pride Day issue. I applaud Mr. Ghaffari’s letter, recognizing we should not set aside a day for any special-interest group. The time/money spent on this is absurd when tax dollars have higher priorities than being spent defending our council’s responsible actions.
I support Mr. Casas’ position on Gay Pride Day. His position on fiscal issues should be commended. He correctly identified fiscal mismanagement (e.g., bond issues not having lived up to their promise), while these leaders assure us the next added tax burden will cover us (e.g., the college district) “for the next 15 years.” We are giving them an open checkbook, and they’ll spend it. Mr. Casas is living up to his campaign promise of being a fiscal conservative.
We moved here from the east in 1996 with three elementary-aged children. We chose Los Altos to distance ourselves from the negative influences of San Francisco. When choosing a community, we spoke with a local citizen downtown, who said, “How can you NOT move to a town where they have a pet parade?” I suspect most parents concur that altering that statement to say “… a town with a Gay Pride parade” will not carry the same weight in their decision to choose Los Altos to raise their children. And since this issue emanated from high school students, I suspect it really originated under the influence of the growing extreme left-wing element that has infiltrated Los Altos High School.
Barrett S. McGrath
Los Altos
Shared use of Bullis would heal wounds
If Los Altos School District is serious about mending relations with Los Altos Hills, it will offer the Bullis-Purissima site to Bullis Charter School (BCS) starting this fall.
This is the quickest and most concrete way for LASD to show it is serious about serving the residents of Los Altos Hills now. The benefits of making such a move far outweigh any reasoning behind keeping BCS in portables at Egan for a third year.
Mold in Bullis buildings? Take those down and replace them with the portables that now are at Egan. All-day kindergarten program? Move it to one of the several campuses in Los Altos closer to most of the families using this service.
If LASD still cannot cross the bridge and take the hand being offered? If LASD instead will build a brand new campus at Bullis, opening in 2008-2009 as Superintendent Tim Justus was visioning? The good news for LAH residents would be that if redistricting is successful, it could be reality just about that time and the new school district would then get that brand-new school facility to use as its own school.
Marita Vargas
Los Altos Hills
Schools problem beyond local
One glance at the March 29 Town Crier and anyone can see that parents in this area care deeply about education. At least, about the education our own children get. I applaud the many parent volunteers (disclosure: I am one) who are now key to standard programs at school.
I sympathize with the parents in Los Altos Hills who lost their local school. But I roll my eyes at the rancor that’s developed as a result and at the bragging about the quality of the charter school education (”Bullis Charter School far exceeds the test scores of the district.” - William Downey, last week’s letters section). Given the semi-private nature of the schools in our district, especially Bullis (where the requested donation is a mere $3,500 per student), can we really brag about the quality of our “public” schools?
What’s overlooked in all this is that we don’t put the same emotion and effort into solving the problem through government at the state level.
Here’s the problem with that: We are wealthy. If we solve the problems locally only, through both extracurricular fund-
raising and a parent volunteer workforce, we are failing vast numbers of children in poorer districts around the state. California sinks even lower on the education spectrum, becomes less competitive economically and sets the table for a slew of unpalatable (and expensive) social problems down the road.
We must not accept the job the state is doing in education. We must demand that education is prioritized (read: funded) across all of California.
Bill Prescott
Los Altos Hills
Tired of charter supporters
Many Los Altos Hills residents have ignored the battle between the charter school and the Los Altos School District. However, the redistricting issue has gotten our attention.
The supporters of the charter school and our town council, who represent them, have long been an embarrassment. The charter school discussions at our town council meetings are a joke. The taunts, jeers and heckling directed toward those who are opposed to the charter school are getting tiresome.
We are tired of the charter school supporters scaring our retirees by telling them their property values will go down without a local school. Bullis school has been closed for three years and property values have not gone down. Attending these council meetings has become so frustrating and stressful that many of us don’t bother.
Now, at the charter school’s request, our town council has voted to form a new school district. There is no real plan on how to do this. It appears to be just another threat to get the Los Altos School District to do their bidding.
I would like the school district to know that our town council no longer represents all the residents of Los Altos Hills, and that we applaud them in their efforts to deal with these charter school zealots.
Please remember, no matter how loud and aggressive they become, they are still a minority group.
Does the charter school contingent really think that we would vote for a separate school district and deny our Los Altos Hills children the choice and the privilege of attending the best school district in the state? Our answer to redistricting is not no, but hell no!
Robin G. Anderson
Los Altos Hills
