After reading the article by Tony Biascotti in The Tracy Press on Monday, February 16, I felt compelled to clarify remarks quoted of me regarding my ‘dream solution’ to the overcrowding that is occurring at the Tom Hawkins School.
The developer funds referenced are not those collected by the school district. State law mandates that these collected funds be applied to school facilities. An external day-care facility is not something the district would be allowed to fund using these monies.
Many parents have expressed their dismay over being told that homes they purchased in the Shea subdivision resided within the existing attendance boundaries for attendance at the Tom Hawkins School. This was the case at the time of their purchases. Since that time, however, the city has rezoned portions of the Glenbriar and Shea subdivisions which will lead to hundreds more homes than that for which the district projected.
The district did not create this situation, nor did it anticipate it. However we are forced to deal with it, and the overcrowding of the Hawkins campus that has resulted. If Hawkins is to remain the outstanding and distinguished school that it has become in just a few short years, we cannot allow overcrowding, as it would be a detriment to the quality of education that is offered there.
Based on the presentation made by Superintendent Ed Quinn at the district board meeting last Tuesday, if the 74 Shea students currently attending Hawkins were shifted to Monticello and Jefferson Schools, this would free up one or two classrooms due to the distribution of those students across grade levels. Since a near equivalent to this space is currently being occupied by Tender Loving Care on campus, I considered a solution to free up this space by finding a way to move the day care to an off-campus facility, and offered an initial version of this solution at the Facilities Workshop held by the board on January 31. However, that initial version considered space at the projected shopping plaza at the corner of Valpico and MacArthur. Valid responses by other board members pointed out the danger presented by crossing a busy Valpico Road, not to mention the obvious fact that ground will never be broken there in time for such purposes.
Since that time, my thoughts on this solution have morphed to finding a facility location within the boundaries of the Glenbriar/Shea community. I also came to the conclusion that those parties who will reap additional profit from the rezoning of the Glenbriar and Shea subdivisions would do well to give back to their communities in a relatively small way, and that those contributions could possibly be used for tax saving purposes.
If the Westco & Shea developers collaborated to donate a small parcel of land near their conjoining boundaries behind Gandy Dancer Drive, and Tiechert donated land preparation, the city could pick up the tab for one of these inexpensive steel frame structures for which I have been seeing ads of late on television.
The city could then offer to the day-care provider with the best bid the opportunity to buy out the city’s stake with a ‘rent-to-own’ or low-interest loan scenario.
It would seem that if this were doable, everybody wins – the developers have something to show prospective buyers relating to their community service and commitment, along with the mentioned tax shelter. The district wins with the preservation of quality of education and sense of community that is prevalent at Hawkins, and the residents of the Shea subdivision not only get to realize the dream they had when they made their purchase, but also recognize the district’s commitment and effort to find the best possible solution for all concerned. Furthermore, the city does not incur any costs over the long term while being able to act to assist a community that has been adversely affected by the decisions of the City Council.
The other factor I observe that is adding pressure to the enrollment statistics at Hawkins is a considered move toward a middle school theme at the Jefferson campus that would phase out fifth grade there, and focus on a modular approach to grades 6-8. While this might be ideal in an isolated situation, it would seem to me that if Jefferson retained the fifth grade at full capacity, that would reduce the need for as many fifth grade classrooms at Hawkins, and any freed classrooms could then be used for lower grades, if the district finds a way to complete the planned construction at Hawkins that includes a 7/8 grade wing with four classrooms each.
Still, with all of this in place, growth will ultimately surpass the affects of these solutions in time, and so the final proposition would be to have Shea residents attend Hawkins K-4 and then Jefferson 5-8. With the near-term solution providing immediate albeit temporary relief, we might then be able to offer existing enrollees from Shea in the upper grades the opportunity to remain at Hawkins for the duration of their enrollment in the Jefferson School District, while requiring any new enrollees to follow the proscribed plan to attend Jefferson for grades 5-8.
A forum will take place on the attendance boundary issue at a meeting to be held at the Multipurpose Room at Hawkins School on Wednesday, February 18, at 7:00 P.M. I would very much like to be in attendance at this meeting – not only as a board member but as a concerned and potentially affected district parent, however because the Brown Act prohibits a quorum of board members present at an unagendized meeting, only two members may be in attendance. Current board President, Pete Carlson will accompany Superintendent Quinn, however I’ve expressed concern over the appropriateness of Mr. Carlson’s selection of long-time ally, Debbie Wingo over either Michelle Mercer or myself, the two board members who reside in the affected communities and who both have children attending the Hawkins School. It would seem that better representation by the board would be made if at least one of the board members closest to those affected by forthcoming decisions were present.
Daniel Wells is in his second year serving as a Jefferson School District trustee.