Dear Scott,

As a parent of a Santa Teresa High School Student, and as a member of the community served by STHS, I wanted to draw your attention to the field use restrictions imposed by ESUHSD on Santa Teresa High School by Bill Kugler, Deputy Superintendent for East Side Union High School District To Fredella Stewart, Principal of Santa Teresa High School on August 20, 2002.

"This memo is to confirm our conference of August 15, 2002, related to the use of Santa Teresa High School Facilities. The purpose of our meeting was to articulate several directives from the superintendent's office specific to that (facility) use.

1. The project to install lighting on the field (s) of Santa Teresa High School issuspended for, at least, the 2002-2003 school year. The project may be revisited at some point in the future, when the interests and concerns of the immediate neighborhood can be studied, addressed and satisfactorily mitigated.

2. The use of outdoor facilities (e.g., fields, courts, track) are restricted to the exclusive use of Santa Teresa High School students and staff. This policy is to take effect immediately.

3. No activity, by any group, should take place at outdoor facilities past 6pm. Obvious exceptions include regularly scheduled school functions such as graduation, athletic contests that extend beyond the curfew, and necessary marching band performances or practice. Again, this policy takes effect immediately."

It is important to note that Santa Teresa High School is the only school in the ESUHSD with field use restrictions. Several thousands of dollars that go towards maintaining the high school facility will be lost without the participation of outside groups (such as Pop Warner) which contribute funds to STHS.

As members of the community, we have a strong interest in keeping our fields available to community youth groups. The City of San Jose prides itself in its low crime rate, in part due to the many community organized and sponsored youth athletic activities. If fields are no longer available to these groups, our children will not have places to practice. Without the availability of these fields, these activities will cease to exist and the children who have participated in them will be at greater risk of turning to crime.

Furthermore, the City spends thousands of dollars each year to run recreational programs, after school tutoring programs, and after school day-care programs. The community based and sponsored groups such as Pop Warner pay for the use of the fields, cost the taxpayers nothing and generate income which covers some of the expenses of our band, football team, a safe Grad Night and other activities). Finally, the High School belongs to the community of families who live within its boundaries. It is wrong to restrict field use so that current and future ST students who belong to these outside groups are not allowed to use the STHS facility.

I hope you'll look into this and let others in our area know about this decision by our superintendent. I do not believe he has acted in the best interest of our community and I believe he should be held accountable for his actions.

Thank you,
Helen Blain

More information is on the school web site at http://stnet.esuhsd.org.

School Board Member Email addresses:
**Manuel Herrera at [email protected]
**Jeff Ota at [email protected]
Juanita Ramirez at [email protected]
**Patricia Martinez-Roach at [email protected]
Craig Mann at [email protected]

**School Board bembers who are up for re-election.