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Published on 11/16/1998 All articles from this issue

LASD examines boundaries, bond sales

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Schools Roundup

With the overwhelming approval of the Los Altos School District's $94.7 million bond measure during the Nov. 3 election, boundaries, bond sales and a basic timeline have become key issues in the district.

At the regular meeting of the school district board of trustees Nov. 16, Superintendent Marge Gratiot presented a tentative timeline for the renovation and upgrade of the district's nine schools, which she said the district plans to complete within six years.

Gratiot said major construction will not start at any schools until the summer of 2000 because of the time required for the design and state approval process. She said renovations at the Covington School site, which is currently leased to various community groups, could begin during the 1999-2000 school year. Some smaller projects, such as bathroom renovations, could get started as early as this summer, she said.

The committee that developed the original facilities master plan will create a plan over the next three months that will outline when renovation work and new construction will happen at each school, Gratiot said.

Gratiot said she expects a district-wide plan, which will include the timing for the reopening of Covington, to be in place by March

In January, a committee will reconfigure district boundaries to include Covington School and to equalize the sizes of the schools, she said.

Board members plan to issue bonds in three series, two years apart, with the first series to be sold in the spring, according to Gratiot.

Further redesign work of school sites will be developed concurrently, she said.

The bond will cost property owners approximately $54 per year for the next 25 years for each $100,000 of assessed valuation of their homes.

In brief: Students at Bubb Elementary School in Mountain View raised more than $25,000 at their annual walk-a-thon recently - making the event the most successful fund-raiser in the school's history. Twenty-one of the school's 25 classes exceeded their fund-raising goals. De Anza College netted $62,000 at the fifth annual gala "A Night of Magic" Sept. 26. The amount exceeded that of any previous gala night.