Lisa McLain Foothill-De Anza Community College District, League News, Observer Reports

Foothill De Anza College District January 2017

January 9, 2017

Trustee Laura Casas was nominated for a three year term on the California Community College Trustees Board.  They will deal with immigration among other things. 

FHDA Trustees approved $35,930 for a study to upgrade the district wide Blue Light Emergency phones.  New phones with a public address system could cost up to $1 million.

The Board approved an additional $390,802 for Flint Parking Center renovation, due to more rust than expected in the steel framework. 

December 12, 2016

Chancellor Judy Minor welcomed two new Board Members elected last November:  long time community college administrator Peter Landsberger plus former Cupertino City Council member and mayor Gilbert Wong.  Laura Casas was re-elected and became the new board president  Trustee holdovers include new vice president Bruce Swenson, Pearl Cheng, plus students Courtney Cooper and Elias Kamal.  Casas appointed Swenson (chair) and Cheng to the Audit and Finance Committee.

The Board added new courses at Foothill in chemistry, English, horticulture, pharmacy technology, and sociology, and at De Anza in accounting, anthropology, film & TV, intercultural studies, Korean, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies.  The Trustees also approved two dozen fee-based (no taxpayer money) not-for-credit short courses on astronomy, music, investing, e-bay, driver education, fashion design, bocce ball, and mindful life planning.

November 7, 2016

Betsy Bechtel leaves the Board after 13 years, and Joan Barram leaves after almost eight years.  The Trustees gave Verde Designs a $92,450 contract to design a synthetic turf field to replace the grass soccer field at Foothill.  Cost to build is unknown, but artificial turf lasts ten years and grass costs up to $100,000 per year to maintain.

John Sheldon of Morgan Stanley presented information regarding the general obligation fund issuance (Measure C) and refinancing approved by trustees at the September 12, 2016, meeting. He advised that the district was able to save taxpayers approximately $1.4 million per year through the refinancing.

Refinancing on the $30 million earthquake upgrade of De Anza’s Flint Center garage will save $1.3 million annually. 

The Trustees accepted a bid of $18 million from Alten Construction to build the new district offices.

October 3, 2016

The Board gave the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority a 30-year easement to extend the bus “duck out” on Stelling Rd. near Stevens Creek Blvd. to support rapid transit buses running every 10 minutes to the Berryessa BART Station.

De Anza President Brian Murphy reported large reductions in student quarterly textbook costs:

$200,000 from using free or open source material in almost 70 courses, $250,000 from the bookstore’s rental program, $150,000 from a one-day 10% discount.  He said enrollment is down 5% from a year ago.  Chancellor Judy Minor said enrollment is up from 1,000 to 2,000 at the new Sunnyvale campus.

—Terry Terman, Observer

Lisa McLain League News, Mountain View Los Altos High School District, Observer Reports

Mountain View – Los Altos High School District January 2017

June 2016 – January 2017


During the six months that the LWV LAMV newsletter was on hiatus, the Mountain View-Los Altos high school board operated smoothly with few surprises.  Long-time board member Susan Sweeley retired after 16 years on the board.  Only one candidate, Sanjay Dave, filed to run for her seat so there was no need for an election.  In January, Debbie Torok became board president, Fiona Walter Vice President, and Joe Mitchner Clerk.

A major focus for the board over the last six months has been determining how to make room for the expected increase in students over the next five years.  In the short term, Los Altos High School needs three additional classrooms for the 2017-18 school year, which will be provided by converting the weight room into two classrooms and adding a portable classroom.  District enrollment at the end of the 2015-16 school year was 3,993.  This number is expected to grow to 4,576 in the 2021-22 school year, according to a Demographic Analysis presented at the June 2016 meetings.   Results from Facilities Assessment, in which engineers assessed the condition of buildings (including heating, A/C, plumbing, electrical, etc.) to identify improvements needed, were reported at the October 2016 meeting.  The assessment concluded that the district takes remarkable care of its facilities compared to other school districts, but still found buildings that need repairs, especially the Freestyle Academy buildings.  The development of Education Specifications is currently underway, which will document what facilities current and future educational programs need, including requirements for classroom loading, student safety, etc.  The final deliverable, the Facilities Master Plan, will combine information from the Demographic Analysis, the Facilities Assessment, and the Education Specifications to create a proposal for the board that includes drawings and site plans.

The meeting on December 5 drew a big crowd of students and parents who attended to voice support for history teacher Frank Navarro, who had been temporarily put on paid administrative leave on November 10.  The student newspaper, the Oracle, had reported that “Navarro … said that his leave was prompted when the parent of a student… sent an email [that] said that the student was upset by Navarro’s statements which equated Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler.”  Speakers at the board meeting defended Navarro, who is an expert on the Holocaust, and supported his right to draw fact-based historical comparisons.  Because it was not on the agenda the board was not allowed to discuss the matter, but Superintendent Harding said that the administrative leave was due to a confidential student safety issue.  Mr. Navarro returned to his classroom on Monday, November 14.

A new part-time position, Director of Assessment and Evaluation, has been created to continue the investigation into why test scores have declined recently and to prepare an action plan to remedy the situation.  Brigitte Saraff retired at the end of December from her former position as Associate Superintendent to take this new position.

Jeff Harding, now in his second year as Superintendent, has commenced a detailed review of all the board policies.  This year the board has been having more working sessions and fewer formal meetings (once a month instead of twice).  Over the past six months the board has, among other things, held annual reviews of all the schools, reviewed summer school results, discussed progress in broadening access to AP classes, supported expansion of student wellness programs, and monitored the district budget.

—Sally Ahnger, Observer

Lisa McLain League News, Los Altos City Council, Observer Reports

Los Altos City Council January 2017

January 10, 2017

The City Council welcomed new board member, Lynette Lee Eng.

During Public Comments, members of the public urged Los Altos City to take steps to make Los Altos a sanctuary city, like hundreds of others in the country. In a letter to the City Council, 111 residents urged that undocumented immigrants should not be persecuted, threatened, or prosecuted in Los Altos by the federal administration. The request could be placed on a future council agenda.

Council agreed by a 3 to 2 vote, to consider a proposed project and to provide feedback to Los Altos Community Investments about the possibility of a public park on top of underground parking for a First Street office building.

January 24, 2017

The City Council received a report on Downtown Parking Management strategies by Jennifer Quinn, Economic Development Manager. She brought the City Council up to date on the use of iParq, parking coupons booklets sold at the Police Department so a patron can park in a space downtown all day. Problems for continued use of the program are that contractors use the permits and neither businesses nor consumers are well-acquainted with the program. Jean Mordo, Mayor Pro Tem, suggested that the queries be resolved and that the Economic Development Manager come back to another meeting with solutions.

Jon Biggs, Community Development Manager, led further discussion from the Planning and Transportation Commission, that hired Walker Planning Consultant to analyze the former City-wide Parking Committee recommendations. The main issues are loss of parking due to new projects, ratios of parking to business, and size of parking spaces. Mark Rogge and David Rock from the City-wide Parking Committee, led a presentation on the consultant’s downtown parking analysis. Their recommendations suggest to define rights and obligations of all participants in need for city-wide parking, form a standing Parking Committee, revise the city code for parking ratios, and revise the code to provide parking stalls of 8.5 feet to add 100-150 parking spaces. Since the City has discussed the issue since 2005, the City-wide Parking Committee urged City Council to stop agonizing over the problem and make decisions for solutions.

—Claire Noonan, Observer

Lisa McLain League News, Mountain View City Council, Observer Reports

Mountain View City Council January 2017

Mountain View City Council Reorganization

On January 10th, 2017, the Mountain View City Council bid outgoing members Mike Kasperzak and John Inks farewell and welcomed aboard Margaret Abe-Koga and Lisa Matichak. The Council then selected the Mayor and Vice Mayor for the year, voting unanimously for Ken Rosenberg and Lenny Siegel.

Although the Council had no significant business to conduct during this ceremonial meeting, roughly a dozen members of the public used the opportunity to urge the Council to defend Measure V, the citizen-initiated rent stabilization ballot measure that was approved last November, against a lawsuit filed by the California Apartment Association. The speakers thanked the Council for adopting emergency protections against no-cause evictions for renters shortly after Measure V passed, but lamented the City’s refusal to oppose a temporary restraining order that blocked the implementation of the law in late December, including the rent stabilization and rent-rollback provisions.

End of 2016 Recap

The Council discussed several major items before the holiday recess. Perhaps the most controversial was the food scraps and waste diversion program; the Council unanimously approved the staff recommendation to implement the program, but also to retain weekly garbage pickup. In the same meeting, the Council decided against extending the urgency ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on outdoor cultivation of marijuana. Now, without the ordinance, residents are allowed to cultivate marijuana outdoors under the marijuana legalization ballot measure that passed in November. They also accepted a recommendation from the Human Relations Commission to adopt a resolution designating Mountain View a Human Rights City, a largely symbolic gesture. The Council agreed to consider developing a human rights policy analysis framework during the goal setting session in the first quarter of 2017.

The Council also reviewed over a dozen gatekeeper requests – a record number. These are development proposals that require Council approval in order to proceed to a more comprehensive review process. Due to the unprecedented amount of development occurring throughout the city, there is insufficient staff capacity to review all of the requests for development. The Council allowed two proposals to proceed: a small increase in the number of units in a residential project the Council already approved on Fayette Drive, and large apartment complex at two adjacent properties, 525-569 East Evelyn and at 769 East Evelyn. 

—Lucas Ramirez, Observer