Coyote Valley Discussions Could Upset Northern Part of School District

No decisions have been made about future development’s impact on
local school district
 
Morgan Hill – Some Morgan Hill school trustees fear severing the controversial Coyote Valley development from the district’s large geographical boundary – whether to become its own or be taken over by another – would stir up unnecessary and unwarranted fears among those in the northern end.

The proposed development lies within district boundaries, which extend from south of Morgan Hill, in San Martin, to north of Bernal Road in south San Jose. 

School trustees disagreed Tuesday night about what Coyote Valley development information they needed.

Trustee Shelle Thomas was concerned that some board members and Superintendent Alan Nishino thought she had made up her mind that Coyote Valley needed to form its own district.

“Well, if I was someone in San Jose, a parent or teacher at Martin Murphy (Middle School) or Los Paseos (Elementary School), that is the feeling that I would get,” Board of Education President Mike Hickey said. 

During a previous school board meeting, Thomas had requested Coyote Valley’s future development be placed on Tuesday’s agenda for discussion. She wanted the board and the community to have more information about the plan, including what the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force believes the district has agreed to, as well as information from the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Committee on School District Organization, whose primary responsibility is the reorganization of school districts.

Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini said district staff requested a presentation for the board by the city of San Jose, whose officials were having difficulty pulling together the financial information and had requested a postponement of the presentation until the Aug. 22 meeting or the Sept. 12 meeting.

Tognazzini and staff gave the board a Santa Clara County Office of Education report which outlines the process for creating a new district or redrawing existing district boundaries. The report has been around since June of 2004.

The Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force is guiding the development of the area in south San Jose just north of Morgan Hill and west of Highway 101. The general plan is to create a densely populated transit-friendly community with 80,000 residents, 50,000 jobs and 25,000 homes. Build-out of the community could take as long as 30 years.

MHUSD would need to build 13 schools in Coyote Valley; the district and the planning committee disagree about MHUSD’s request for two high schools. How the construction of the schools would be funded is also still up in the air.

Three schools in the northern end of the district – Los Paseos Elementary School, Martin Murphy Middle School and the Charter School of Morgan Hill – house MHUSD students. Los Paseos and Martin Murphy are located in south San Jose adjacent to each other off of Avenida Espana. The Charter School of Morgan Hill is also located in south San Jose on Monterey Highway in the former Encinal Elementary School near the intersection of Bailey Avenue. All facilities fall within Coyote Valley development land. 

“I’m just hoping that San Jose will come to its senses and not build Coyote Valley out,” Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot said. “It is an environmental nightmare. They have plenty of places downtown that they need to build out. In the meantime, we should at least stay knowledgeable, know exactly what we are doing. Everything we learn will benefit us.”

Several board members were resistant to the idea of putting Coyote Valley issue on the agenda, saying there was nothing to discuss, that the board had received reports in the past about the process and costs of creating a Coyote Valley school district.

Thomas thought the board needed information, both on the plan the task force is creating and on the alternatives the board can consider.

During Tuesday’s discussion, Trustee Kathy Sullivan argued that not only did she believe those students and teachers in the northern end of the district should not be split from MHUSD, she also did not understand the “sense of urgency” to discuss Coyote Valley.