Local officials, community members and consultants hashed out
plans Monday on how the Coyote Development just south of San Jose
will tackle building high schools for a development that could some
day be about the size of Gilroy and Morgan Hill combined if it ever
achieves final approval.
San Jose – Local officials, community members and consultants hashed out plans Monday on how the Coyote Development just south of San Jose will tackle building high schools for a development that could some day be about the size of Gilroy and Morgan Hill combined if it ever achieves final approval.
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales said two smaller high schools without 9th graders is the way to go once development begins in the Coyote Valley – estimated to grow to 80,000 residents under current plans.
Others disagreed, and the question of whether one high school or two should be built was hotly debated during the meeting.
Gonzales, a co-chair on the task force, recommended a high school of 10th to 12th grade, with 9th grade remaining in the junior high campus. The mayor’s remark “dismayed” Russ Danielson – a task force member and former board member of the Morgan Hill Unified School District – because it goes against the Morgan Hill school district’s views.
“We just got out of 27 years of warehousing the freshmen at the junior high schools,” he said. “I insisted on speaking next (at the meeting) because I really wanted to put that recommendation to rest.”
Danielson said once Coyote Valley’s population reaches 80,000, two high schools will be better than a single site.
“The kids (will) have more space for themselves,” he said. “If prison overcrowding is a crime, why isn’t school overcrowding?”
At the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task force meeting Monday, consultant Doug Dahlin of the Dahlin Group told task force members the new community could potentially have one big high school or two smaller ones to educate a possible 2,900 students. The actual number of students might be much higher, said Danielson, a Morgan Hill resident. For a potential population of 80,000, Danielson forecasts about 15,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. High school is about one third of that group – 5,000 students, he said.
“That’s too big for one high school,” he said.
Whether to build one or two high schools in Coyote Valley is a critical question for Morgan Hill school district as well as Gavilan Community College. Both districts reach north to San Jose’s Bernal Road, thus including Coyote Valley. Gavilan President Steve Kinsella said he was fascinated by the discussion.
“Everyone at the table had some take on it,” he said.
Kinsella hopes task force members will be open to hearing opinions from Morgan Hill about the high school issue.
“I think it’s only the Morgan Hill Unified School District board that should be responding to whether one or two high schools is the way to go,” he said.
The “programming perspective” is also a crucial component to consider for Coyote Valley schools. “What is the educational program that they want to have in Coyote Valley?” he said. “That should be the major consideration whether there will be one high school or two high schools.”
Danielson recommends that initially one high school be built. A “logical site” for a second high school should be preserved for a time when Coyote Valley’s population reaches a point where it might be needed, he said.
“Conventional wisdom, we’re not building mega-high schools any more,” he said.
Mayor Gonzales stressed quality of education over high school size to retain students.
“My preference is for two smaller schools,” he said. “We need to create an environment where parents don’t find a need to go find a private school.”
The San Jose City Council will vote on the task force’s recommended plans for Coyote Valley in December 2005. If approved, construction of the new community might begin as early as 2007. The community of a projected 70,000 to 80,000 will cover almost 7,000-acres of rural, open valley. A “green belt” south of Palm Avenue will separate it from Morgan Hill.
