Go green on St. Pat’s WEEKEND | 21 MARCH 11, 2016 VOLUME 24, NO. 7
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MOVIES | 24
Police chief named in sexual harassment lawsuit CITY DENIES ALLEGATIONS BUT SAYS MVPD WILL UNDERGO TRAINING By Mark Noack
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MAGALI GAUTHIER
Steve and Teresa Peters read a bedtime story to their young daughters Evelyn and Elena in a makeshift bed in the back of their SUV at St. Timothy’s Church on March 4. About a dozen parishioners volunteered to spend the stormy night in their cars to build empathy for Mountain View’s homeless population.
Car-dwelling homeless inspire church copycats PARKING LOT CAMPSITE MEANT TO HIGHLIGHT HOMELESS HARDSHIPS By Mark Noack
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heir apartment was just a short drive away, but on Friday evening Steve and Teresa Peters decided not to go home. The husband and wife — both engineers — packed their two daughters, 3-year-old
Elena, and 16-month-old Evelyn, in the family SUV and they headed to the parking lot of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Mountain View. That’s where, to get a feeling for what the city’s homeless face, they were going to spend the night. That March 4 evening, they
weren’t alone. Inspired by the recent rise in people living out of their cars on Mountain View’s streets, about a dozen members of the St. Timothy’s congregation were undertaking a sort of weekend-long vow See CAR CAMPERS, page 12
Two more join crowded Assembly race COUNCILMAN JOHN INKS, PALO ALTO RESIDENT SEEK TO REPLACE RICH GORDON By Mark Noack
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hrowing a twist into an already lively election, two more candidates have announced they will join the crowded contest for Rich Gordon’s state Assembly seat, bringing the total to nine. They are Mountain View Councilman John Inks and Palo Alto community volunteer Jay Blas Jacob Cabrera. On Monday morning, Inks
INSIDE
John Inks
Jay Cabrera
told the Voice his decision to run was somewhat improvised, but he was encouraged by his supporters to consider it. They
convinced him the large candidate pool for this election presented a rare opportunity for a third-party politician — Inks is Libertarian — to make a strong showing, he said. “It’s a strong competitive field, and I won’t know how I can do unless I actually tried,” Inks said. “My success in Mountain View has always been tied to appealing to multiple party affiliations — See ASSEMBLY, page 15
VIEWPOINT 18 | GOINGS ON 25 | MARKETPLACE 30 | REAL ESTATE 32
civil lawsuit filed Monday is taking aim at the Mountain View Police Department, alleging that a culture of sexual harassment pervades the organization, including at its highest ranks. The suit, filed by a current police dispatcher, alleges that police Chief Max Bosel and other officials encouraged conduct including lewd jokes, nudity and simulated sexual acts, and then retaliated against her when she complained. Chief City Manager Max Bosel Dan Rich has categorically denied the allegations; however, he noted in an open letter posted to the city’s website Tuesday that an independent investigation determined that some police employees had previously engaged in unspecified behavior “that was inconsistent with the standards we expect.” The plaintiff, 38-year-old Annie Lohman, has worked for the city police as a dispatcher since 2003. Starting in 2005, when she joined the department’s SWAT team, Lohman alleges, she was repeatedly exposed to lewd banter, nudity and other sexually-charged behavior. Bosel, the SWAT team’s commanding officer at the time, did nothing to stop this behavior, and instead he encouraged it, according to the lawsuit. Lohman alleges Bosel personally made unwanted sexual advances toward her. After she entered a relationship with another police employee, Lohman says, she began making
a concerted effort to resist the unwanted behavior from other officers. At that point, she alleges, police officials began retaliating by putting extra pressure on her in an effort to get her to leave. Her suit notes she was subjected to “meritless” investigations that never revealed any misconduct, and her direct superiors added a paper trail of disciplinary memos to her personnel file at Bosel’s request. Bosel was promoted to police captain in 2007 and was chosen to head the department as chief in 2014. Lohman’s lawsuit notes that she was placed on administrative leave around February 2015, not long after Bosel rose to the top position. She was willing to return to work, but she eventually learned she could resume her job only if she accepted a demotion to another division and completed a training program, according to the suit. Over the last year, Lohman said, she exhausted other administrative avenues to seek redress. She filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, her complaint states. She also filed a worker’s compensation claim for hearing impairment. It is not immediately clear what response those complaints received, but those actions cleared the way for filing a formal lawsuit against the city of Mountain View. San Jose attorney James McManis, who is representing Lohman, pointed out that at this time, only Bosel is being identified as a defendant. However, See LAWSUIT, page 12
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“Toward the Unknown Region” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, set to poetry by Walt Whitman, and Beethoven’s overture to “The Creatures of Prometheus.” Tickets are $10–$25. Go to baychoralguild.org.
as white, as well as current race and identity issues, Tuesday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. Go to keplers. com/event/allyson-hobbs.
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COURTESY OF CSMA
Amy Bouchard, a mezzo-soprano, will perform a free concert of popular music at CSMA.
AMY BOUCHARD CONCERT Local vocalist and music teacher Amy Bouchard performs a concert of popular music from past centuries and hits from the “golden age” of Broadway on Saturday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free, with first-come, firstserved seating, and will be held at the Community School of Music and Arts’s Tateuchi Hall, 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View. Go to arts4all. org/attend/concerts.htm
‘HAIRGEL’ Youth Drama For All, an inclusive drama group open to all special and general education students, presents an original musical, “Hairgel,” Saturday, March 12, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., at Cubberley Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The show focuses on Mel, a patient in the Rock ‘n Roll Rehab Center who’s lost his beloved hair gel, and the fellow patients, doctors and therapists surrounding him. Tickets are $10 for general admission. Go to eventbrite.com/e/youth-drama-for-all-presents-hairgeltickets-20439741818.
MOZART’S ‘REQUIEM’
The Portola Art Gallery is hosting “A Walk on the Wild Side,” a collection of wildlife and landscape photographs by Larry Calof of Atherton, this month. The exhibit features images printed on aluminum and traditional archival paper and runs through March 31, Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Allied Arts Guild, 75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park. A reception with the artist will be held Saturday, March 12, 1 to 4 p.m. Go to portolaartgallery.com.
• Keynote by life transitions expert Bart Astor: “Those Were The Days, My Friend!”
COURTESY JESSICA TAMPAS/KEPLER’S BOOKS
Allyson Hobbs, a Stanford history professor, talks about her new book at Kepler’s.
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COURTESY OF PORTOLA ART GALLERY
Photographer Larry Calof exhibits his wildlife and landscape photographs at Portola Art Gallery.
MFA WINTER DOCUMENTARIES Four short documentary films by first-year Stanford MFA students will be screened Tuesday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m., followed by Q&A with the filmmakers. The films include “Bad Habits,” about self-professed nuns devoted to the healing powers of cannabis, and “Mounted Minister,” about a horseback riding, self-ordained minister working in the gang-ridden streets of Fresno. The free event will be held at Cubberley Auditorium, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford. Go to events.stanford. edu/events/583/58363/.
Bay Choral Guild and New Millennium Chamber Orchestra offer a new completion of Mozart’s “Requiem” by Mozart scholar and musicologist Robert D. Levin on Sunday, March 13, at 4:30 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto. The program also includes
Stanford history professor Allyson Hobbs, author of “A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life,” and publicist Helena Brantley discuss the history of African Americans “passing”
Voices
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A R O U N D T O W N will return.
Saturday, April 2 • 8:30am - 3:00pm Mitchell Park Community Center • $40 before 3/22
‘A CHOSEN EXILE’
MountainViewOnline.com March 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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LocalNews City of Mountain View Q CRIMEBRIEFS
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE Rental Housing Dispute Resolution Ordinance NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN the City of Mountain View City Council will hold a public hearing on March 15, 2016, at 6:30 W T PU [OL *P[` *V\UJPS *OHTILYZ ZLJVUK ÅVVY 4V\U[HPU View Civic Center, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View CA 94041 at which time all interested parties may be heard concerning the City Council’s consideration of an ordinance enacting a Rental Housing Dispute Resolution Program to include: conciliation; mediation and arbitration of disputes involving rent increases; service reductions; 30-day and 60-day notices to vacate; security deposits; maintenance and repairs; and early termination of leases by tenants. Council could also include a discussion of rent relief options. For further information, go to the City’s website at www.mountainview.gov. AVISO DE AUDIENCIA PÚBLICA Ordenanza para la Resolución de Disputas de Viviendas de Alquiler SE NOTIFICA que el Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Mountain View tendrá una audiencia pública el 15 de marzo de 2016, a las 6:30pm, en las Cámaras del Concejo, segundo piso, Civic Center, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View CA 94041 en la cual todas las partes interesadas pueden ser escuchadas en relación a la consideración del Concejo de una ordenanza que promulga un Programa de Resolución de Disputas de Viviendas de Alquiler. Dicha propuesta incluye lo siguiente: conciliación; mediación y arbitraje de diferencias relativas a los aumentos de alquiler; reducciones de servicios; avisos de desalojo de 30 y 60 días; depósitos de seguridad; mantenimiento y reparación; y termino del contrato de arrendamiento antes de la caducidad del mismo a petición del inquilino. El Concejo podría incluir una discusión de opciones para aliviar la renta. Para más información visite la página Web de la Ciudad a www.mountainview.gov.
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Police arrested a 21-year-old Mountain View man over the weekend after he allegedly attacked an employee at Molly Magees. The employee at the bar told police around 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, March 6, that he told the suspect, later identified as Eduardo Sanchez, to leave the bar for yelling and being rude, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. Sanchez allegedly threw a beer glass at the employee, and left the bar when officers were en-route, Nelson said. Later that evening, police received a call reporting that Sanchez was allegedly acting aggressively at his residence in Mountain View. Officers said Sanchez was intoxicated and matched the description of the suspect who threw a beer at a Molly Magees employee earlier that evening, Nelson said. Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
BB GUN AT SCHOOL Police cited a student at Graham Middle School on Monday after he was allegedly found to be carrying a BB gun in his backpack. Another student at the school informed a Graham staff member that the suspect, a juvenile, had a BB gun in his backpack, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. The employee later called police, who cited the student for possession of a weapon at school shortly before 2 p.m. on March 7. The student was later released to his parents. Police are not releasing information on the student’s identity, since he is a minor. —Kevin Forestieri
Q POLICELOG ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON
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A MUSE IN THE LAND OF MICROCHIPS Mountain View may be better known for its data than its diction, but city leaders are hoping to give local literature a boost. The city is looking for an aspiring local wordsmith to step forward to be considered for the post of Mountain View’s first-ever poet laureate. Although it’s a volunteer position, the job isn’t meant to be ceremonial, and city officials hope that the chosen poet will promote local literary arts throughout town. The poet laureate will be in charge of leading public readings, introducing visiting authors, and filling a mentor role for local See COMMUNITY BRIEFS, page 14
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LocalNews MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE
Q CITY COUNCIL UPDATES Q COMMUNITY Q FEATURES
School board relaxes standards for English learners WRITING PROFICIENCY TEST CALLED AN UNFAIR ROADBLOCK TO MAINSTREAM CLASSES By Kevin Forestieri
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Colleen Mullenex walks along one of the illicit new paths that have been burned into the grass at Cuesta Annex.
Mystery trails spur a whodunit at Cuesta Annex By Mark Noack
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lmost every morning, Colleen Mullenex starts her day by taking her black Labrador, Shadow, out for a leisurely walk at the Cuesta Park Annex, the 12-acre plot of open-space near Mountain View’s southern border. But on a hike last month, she noticed something strange — across the green fields were what looked like new paths of dead, brown grass. The brown tracks, about two feet wide, were too stark and linear to be natural, and they cut across the entirety of the
open space. When she returned one week later, Mullenex said she was surprised to see even more trails of dead grass running through the property. What Mullenex and city parks officials suspect is that someone has illicitly been spraying herbicides throughout the Cuesta Park Annex in an attempt to create new walking trails. The park already features an extensive trail looping through the property, but about six new pathways have appeared on the site in the last two weeks. Whoever committed this act remains a mystery, but it seems likely that person
came in the late evening hours under cover of darkness, Mullenex said. “I just don’t understand why someone would do this — this changes the whole beauty of the park,” Mullenex said. “We don’t need 50 million new walkways covering the entire field.” Bruce Hurlburt, Mountain View’s Open Space and Parks manager, largely agreed with that assessment. No formal chemical analysis has been done, but he said the pattern of dead grass indicated someone had used a spray-can to apply weed-killer across the property. It could be treated as a criminal act, he said. “I see this as an act of vanSee TRAILS, page 12
tudents learning English in Mountain View schools will have an easier path to joining their peers in regular classes, now that the Mountain View Whisman School District board has agreed to ease tough requirements they have had to meet to get out of language development classes. The new standards, which will be voted on at a future meeting, mean more students who don’t speak English as a first language will be able to get out of English-language development classes — something many parents want their children to do as soon as possible. In recent school board meetings, several parents have voiced concerns that these English development classes are poorly designed and are holding students back rather than bringing them up to speed. Students who speak a language other than English at home and are designated as “English learners” are placed in an English-language development class. Once they perform well enough on state standardized tests, they can be reclassified — which means dropping the English-learner designation — and assume a typical class schedule. The board agreed to tweak some of those performance requirements at its
March 3 meeting. One of the biggest hurdles keeping English-learner students from being reclassified is a difficult writing assessment, which last fall was a roadblock for about 50 students looking to be reclassified as English fluent, according to Phyllis Rodgers, director of English language learner services. The trouble is that the English-language learners aren’t the only ones struggling to pass the test — a majority of the district’s native English speakers can’t pass it, either. Only 37 percent of all elementary students and 30 percent of middle school students in the district were able to pass the writing test this year, Rodgers said, which makes it a much larger issue. “This is going to be one of our areas that we’re going to really need to address, not just with our English-language learners but as a district-wide issue,” Rodgers said. Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph suggested that the district eliminate the requirement for a writing sample as an objective measure for judging whether a student is fluent in English, and said requiring something that stumps two-thirds of the student body is unnecessarily holding See STANDARDS, page 6
Shuttered care home seeks to re-open BEDBUGS, LEAKING SEWAGE TRIGGERED CLOSURE LAST MONTH By Mark Noack
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ttorneys for a Mountain View care home for the mentally disabled say they intend to fight the decision by state regulators to shutter the facility for numerous alleged violations. San Antonio Manor, located at 2404 Gabriel St., lost its license and was ordered to close last month after inspectors cited the facility for numerous violations
including mold, bed bugs and sewage leaks. But attorneys for the owner, Rose Carrera, contend that she had made earnest efforts to repair violations and bring the home up to code. They say the situation at San Antonio Manor is an example of a systemic problems and poor public financing in the mental health field. “This process is really a result of the difficulty in accepting mental health patients in the
first place. Homes aren’t paid enough,” said Timothy McCandless, a Stockton attorney representing the owner. “We’re going to put forward the case that she wasn’t negligent.” To back up this claim, McCandless said that Carrera on three occasions hired exterminators to handle the bed bug problem in recent months. It’s possible the residents were re-introducing the See CARE HOME, page 17
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San Antonio Manor, a care home for mentally disabled adults, was shut down by state officials last month. Its owner is seeking to reinstate its license and reopen. March 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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LocalNews
School district reboots boundary, district task forces MAJOR ISSUES FROM LAST YEAR MAY CONTINUE TO STYMIE COMMUNITY INPUT By Kevin Forestieri
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he Mountain View Whisman School District is seeking parents and community members to be a part of three task forces this year, aimed at tackling major problems facing Mountain View schools. In January, Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph announced that he would be bringing back the Boundary Advisory Task Force and the District Facilities Committee to adjust school boundaries and consider what kinds of facility improvements are within the district’s budget. Rudolph also announced a third task force aimed at improving the district’s spe-
STANDARDS
Continued from page 5
back students who are more or less performing at grade level. “We’re not proposing that we abandon writing, but we are saying that in this case, we need to revisit writing for all of our kids,” Rudolph said. “And because we need to revisit writing for all our kids, we are are willing to admit that we are just not meeting the standard and that we need to do something a little different.” In looking at how other districts set the bar for English fluency, Rodgers said only 8 to 10 percent of school districts in the state have a writing exam as a threshold for reclassifying English-language learners. Rudolph suggested that the writing test be replaced with reading proficiency and English language arts benchmark testing — only one of which students would need to pass. The decision would retroactively allow an extra 50 students to be deemed fluent in English this school year. Board president Ellen Wheeler supported ditching the writing requirements, saying that it isn’t fair for the district to punish English-language learners for failing exams that were being failed across the board. The district’s recommendation is a reversal of a proposal last November to set the bar even higher for reclassification. Because the old state standardized test has been replaced with the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) test, district administrators were considering using SBAC test results as the new standard for English fluency. Parents made a strong showing at 6
cial education and English-language development programs, following a recent district audit that found major deficiencies in both. Special education and English learners were originally intended to have their own separate committees, but were later combined. The previous Boundary Advisory Task Force members had grappled with several competing problems that made it hard to draw up enrollment boundaries. Residents of the Whisman and Slater neighborhood area pushed for a new school in the northeast end of the city, which had gone without a school since Slater Elementary closed in 2006. But drawing up boundar-
ies that accommodated a new school proved to be challenging, as there are only about 3,600 elementary school students to go around. The task force had to maintain a careful balancing act to make sure enrollment at existing schools didn’t slip too low, which could hurt the existing academic programs or even force a school closure. Board member Bill Lambert later said at a board retreat meeting that they had given the committee an “impossible task.” The task force came to the board with a recommendation not to open a new school, saying that there simply were not enough students to go around
— nor would there be in the coming years, despite new housing developments in the city. The school board shot down the recommendation, and decided to commit to opening the new school anyway. The new incarnation of the task force, now called the Student Attendance Areas Advisory Task Force, will likely play a key role in figuring out how to distribute students, both current and future, to fit in a ninth elementary school. But balancing the enrollment still appears to be a major challenge. Rudolph told the Voice in an email that the school board wants schools to have about 450 students each. According to demographic
the Nov. 12 meeting, arguing that doing so would prevent students from ever becoming Englishfluent and having a normal class schedule. Board member Greg Coladonato agreed with the aboutface. Since November, he has voiced concern that the board could be holding English learners to a higher standard than the general school population. “What you’re bringing back today is much more in line with what I think is a fair way to give English-language learners multiple ways to succeed and end up a normal student reading at their grade level and learning like everybody else,” Coladonato said. The relaxed standards for reclassifying students will come as a relief to some parents, who told the board in November they were skeptical that the classes tailored for English learners actually helped them. An audit report by Cambridge Education, released in December, largely validated those concerns, calling the district’s English-language learner program “ineffective, inconsistent, and, in many cases, counterproductive.” On top of that, the report sites dismal communication with the mostly Spanish-speaking parents as to why their students were placed in special classes, and what the language development classes are supposed to achieve. “English language learner parents’ perception of what being an English-language learner means is inconsistent to a point where there is debate whether it is productive, counterproductive or, as one parent phrased it, ‘a form of segregation,’” the report states. The standards for reclassification are largely misunderstood
by families as well. Araceli Callejas, a Landels and Graham parent, told the board that neither the parents nor the students understand why they are being placed in alternate classes, and are uncomfortable coming forward with their concerns in a primarily English-speaking environment. “I think a lot of parents feel intimidated by coming (forward), and I feel the same,” Callejas said. Parents are often unaware of the consequences of having their children remain in English-language development classes for too long, according to the school audit. Students are torn away from elective classes in middle school because of scheduling conflicts, and are more likely to miss out on all the prerequisite courses needed to be on track for state university application requirements in high school. “Many parents also share that they are often told that things are okay until they discover that their child is achieving much lower than s/he should be, at which point it is often too late,” the report states. A focus on math?
encouraging school districts in the South Bay to modify the curriculum to better position Latino students for success in higher education. But rather than focus on reading and writing improvements, the foundation has promoted STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum as a pathway to college. Manny Barbara, vice president of the foundation, told the board at its Feb. 25 meeting that math performance is one of the biggest indicators for whether Latino students will successfully meet all the requirements in high school needed to enroll in fouryear universities across the state. Students who want to apply to University of California schools are required to finish three years of college-preparatory mathematics including advanced algebra and geometry, according to the University of California website. Barbara said math performance tends to have a cascading effect. How Latino students perform in third grade largely predicts how they will do in middle school math, he said, and completion of algebra in eighth grade is the “single biggest predictor” for whether students will stay on track for University of California requirements. Likewise, if there’s a performance gap early, it’s going to stick around. The achievement gap isn’t an even, sequential model, Barbara said, and tends to get much worse when transitioning into middle school and high school. “The middle school-to-high school (achievement) gap widens and stays that way,” Barbara said. “It’s really hard to close the gap once they start the high school level and they’re not at the grade-
Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
Last year, results from the new SBAC test revealed that students with disabilities and English learners — and by extension, Latino students — are performing well below their peers in the Mountain View Whisman district. Since then, Rudolph has called for a major overhaul in the district’s special education and English-language development programs. The Silicon Valley Education Foundation has taken up a similar cause at a regional level,
studies, that would only work out if some of the more liberal estimates for enrollment growth come to fruition. What’s more, enrollment would likely be higher at popular, higherperforming schools like Huff and Bubb, and much lower at schools near the reopened Slater Elementary — namely Monta Loma and Theuerkauf. The other big question looming over the task force is whether to consider as many as 10,250 potential new homes in the North Bayshore area, and how that will affect enrollment projections. Two demographic studies on future enrollment have glossed over the major potential for new housing in the region, stating that it would be a hazy forecast at best to try and estimate student growth more than See TASK FORCES, page 14
level courses.” Board member Coladonato questioned the cause-and-effect relationship between math and Latino student success, and wondered if a student’s willingness and propensity to take four years of math in high school is what drives the correlation. “The kids that want to take four years of math, or more math than is required, have something going on that we can’t just change with policy,” Coladonato said. But Barbara maintained that the district’s adoption of challenging, rigorous curriculum and focus on early mathematics would matter, and that the Silicon Valley Education Foundation is encouraging college preparatory curriculum to be the default for all students, starting in the first years of public school. The district owes it to Spanish-speaking families, who might be unfamiliar with the school system and who rely on the district to advocate for their children, he said. Barbara said district officials, in their current effort to overhaul the curriculum standards, can also take the opportunity to survey the barriers that are preventing students from doing well. He recalled one student in another school district who struggled to keep up with homework assignments because the family didn’t have a home. “This is an opportunity to really talk about where these kids are coming from,” Barbara said. “I think doing homework is important, don’t get me wrong, but when you’re living in a garage there’s some other factors that might be venturing into the equation.” Email Kevin Forestieri at kforestieri@mv-voice.com V
LocalNews
Student homelessness on the rise in MV schools REPORTS FIND HOMELESS COUNTS MUCH HIGHER THAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS’ ESTIMATES By Kevin Forestieri
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ilicon Valley may be the center of job growth and economic prosperity in California, but a greater number of families with children are struggling to stay housed, leading to a growing number of homeless students enrolled in public schools. Information collected by the California Department of Education shows that the state’s homeless student population has increased by nearly 35 percent in four years, from 220,000 in 2011 to 297,000 in 2014, according to data compiled by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. That amounts to roughly 4.8 percent of the state’s entire student body. In Santa Clara County, the percent of homeless students is significantly lower at 1.6 percent, but it’s increasing at an alarming rate. The county’s homeless student population jumped by a whopping 79 percent from 2011 to 2014, according to the foundation’s database. Of the roughly 4,500 homeless students in the county, 80 percent are estimated to be living in some kind of shared-housing situation due to loss of housing or economic hardship, according federal guidelines. An estimated 12 percent of students are living in temporary shelters. The issue came to the forefront at the Feb. 23 Mountain View City Council meeting, when city staff reported that 30 students in the Mountain View Whisman School District are currently homeless. Council member Ken Rosenberg called it a “disgrace.” But the staff report does not take into account the number of students who were homeless at some point throughout the year, which is estimated to be much higher. During the 2013-14 school year, an estimated 45 students in
the Mountain View Whisman School District and 90 students in the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District were reportedly homeless at some point. Housing affordability tends to be the top reason why families in California suddenly find themselves without a place to live, according to Shahera Hyatt, director of the California Homeless Youth Project. Hyatt monitors student homelessness at the California Research Bureau, and said the economic rebound in recent years has left a lot of people behind, creating poverty and destabilization as the cost of living continues to increase. “The problem is particularly acute in California,” Hyatt said of the rise in homeless students. “And that’s just what’s being identified. It doesn’t include students that have dropped out or haven’t been identified by the school district.” The primary fall-back option for families who suddenly lose housing due to economic hardship is living in a shared housing situation, like temporarily crashing at a friend’s or parent’s home. Hyatt said students in these living conditions tend to have problems and trouble focusing on academic work. “People are funding their own sort of survival strategies, like living in the cars or living with way, way too many people in the home,” Hyatt said. “Sharing such crowded spaces really leads to conflict.” Homeless students have several key rights protecting their ability to attend public school without documentation. Under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, students have a right to continue to attend their “school of origin” even if homelessness forces them to move outside of school boundaries or out of the school district entirely. The act also requires school dis-
tricts to seek out students who are homeless and report the total number to the state, which Hyatt said has been a weak spot for many school districts. “It’s definitely an undercount. Sometimes school districts return with zero, and we know that’s not the case,” she said. “It’s federal law that you have to identify homeless students.” At the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District, for example, homelessness is determined by proof of residency forms and self reporting, according to Associate Superintendent Brigitte Sarraf. Once they are identified, students automatically qualify for the Federal Free Lunch Program and have access to the district’s social worker and Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) counselors, Sarraf said. Homelessness takes a toll Homelessness has certainly taken its toll on local students. CHAC counselors working directly with homeless students have noticed they lack focus on classroom activities, get sick more often and have shown psychosomatic symptoms, according to Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto, executive director at CHAC. She said they also tend to be disconnected and isolated from their friends and peers. “It’s hard to be homeless, particularly in an affluent area,” Nakano-Matsuomto said. “They don’t want their friends to know that they don’t have a nice home to live in.” Sarraf said that the high school district saw a particularly large uptick in the 2013-14 school year with 77 students defined as homeless under the McKinneyVento definition of homelessness. But when it gets boiled down to just students living in shelters, cars, hotels and motels, she said the number drops down
! w ie v in a t n u o M in n Now ope
to 16 students — the figure that the district prefers to use. “I think you would agree that families that sublease space or who live with relatives are not homeless, although the State Department of Education reporting protocol identifies them as homeless,” Sarraf said. The number has decreased significantly since 2014, in part because the count included a handful of non-homelessness related cases, like exchange students living with host families. Sarraf did not explain the remaining discrepancy between the district’s count and the data pulled from the California Department of Education’s demographic information. Hyatt said the number should be the same unless the district takes the unusual move of refining the list over the course of the school year. Beyond the head count, the McKinney-Vento Act ensures that eligible homeless students have full access to free school meals and transportation, and requires school districts to assign a homeless student liaison to make sure parents and students are aware of their rights. Again, Hyatt said, this can be a weak spot for many school districts that fall short of addressing homeless student’s federal civil rights. In some cases, she said, a single person can get stuck handling hundreds of cases. “Case loads for folks designated to work with homeless students are so astronomical that it’s unreasonable to think they will be able to provide one-on-one care,” she said. Nubia Avina, the liaison for homeless students in the Mountain View Whisman School District, told the Voice in an interview last year that school is an important cornerstone for homeless students who need some level of consistency in their lives. It
also includes a free or reducedprice lunch to make sure students get regular meals. But it can be hard to get families to admit they are homeless because they are unaware of the laws protecting their children’s right to attend public schools. A lack of training and funding School districts across the state have not made it a priority to identify homeless students, despite the existing laws on the books. A report from the California Homeless Youth Project found that many schools neglect to identify students as homeless once they’ve provided proof of residency, while others simply haven’t trained staff to understand the obligations school districts have under the McKinney-Vento Act. This could be, in part, because there’s no incentive to get an accurate count. Data on the number of homeless students does not determine or affect any funding received under the act, making it less palatable for districts to “expend significant time and resources to identify homeless children and youth,” according to the report. School funding under the state’s new Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) system also excludes any mention of homeless students as a target for state funding, and does not explicitly identify them as “target” students in need of additional resources. In a report titled California’s Homeless Students: A Growing Population, Hyatt advocated for a shift in focus towards some of the most vulnerable students in California public schools. She said schools need to make homeless student attendance and academic success a high priority, which requires inclusion in LCAP funding. “We haven’t done enough, as a state, to put funding and coordination behind the issue,” Hyatt told the Voice. Email Kevin Forestieri at kforestieri@mv-voice.com V
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acknowledges the 2016 Realtors for the World Ahead We thank these realtors for their commitment to strong schools and a strong community. Please call on them when you have real estate needs!
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Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
The 2016 Realtors for the World Ahead have made donations to the Mountain View Educational Foundation to support the Mountain View Whisman schools. Since 1984, MVEF has worked collaboratively with the community to raise funds for essential programs with a goal of ensuring a well-rounded education for all district students. This year, MVEF will provide more than $700,000 to support hands-on science, environmental education, art and music classes, leadership programs, middle school electives, afterschool sports, and other essential programs.
To make a donation, learn more about MVEF, buy tickets to our spring gala, RU รฐQG GLUHFW OLQNV WR WKH Realtors for the World Ahead, please visit
www.mvef.org
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The entire community is invited to join MVEF at our Spring Gala and Auction: A Celebration of Teaching on Saturday, March 19, 2016. Tickets and information: www.mvef.org
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March 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
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LocalNews CAR CAMPERS Continued from page 1
of poverty. They were going to experience firsthand what it felt like to live on the street. Steve Peters, who came up with the idea, said he hoped to instill a little bit of goodwill toward the city’s growing number of car campers. He pointed to the lack of areas where people could live in their cars as a sign that many viewed the poor only as a nuisance. It was simplistic for them to spend one night in their car when his family could return home anytime, Peters admitted. But nonetheless, he felt the exercise might show them some of the hardships the homeless face. Plus it was Lent, so he needed to give up something. “At a minimum, I thought we should try it ourselves,” he said. “I was hoping we might promote a little more empathy in the
community.” “We could call what we’re doing ‘YIMBY’ — yes in my backyard,” his wife added. Just before bedtime on that stormy Friday, the dozen or so participants sat in circle in the church hall for a brief meeting. Visiting the group, Pastor Brian Leong of Lord Grace Christian Church explained his efforts to better network Peninsula churches to address the growing homeless population. In an idea he pitched to city leaders earlier this month, local congregations could arrange for people living out of their cars to stay in the church parking lots. That way, they would at least have bathrooms, garbage service and perhaps a little more security, he said. “I could get four churches almost immediately to go along with this,” Leong said. “We want to work together and pool our resources to see if can have an
Q OBITUARY
KIMBERLY SMITH-NILSSON Rev. Kimberly Smith-Nilsson, who had served as an associate pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Mountain View, died of cancer at home, surrounded by her family, on February 23. She was 58. She was born in Loup City, Neb., on May 22, 1957. She married her high school sweetheart, Alan Nilsson, on July 27, 1980 at the United Rev. Kimberly Church in Los Alamos, N.M., where she would Smith-Nilsson later be ordained into the United Church of Christ. She received her bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and taught special education for two years. After graduating from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley in 1984, she began a career in ministry. Her two daughters, Thea and Johanna, were raised in Mountain View, while she served as a chaplain at Stanford Children’s Hospital and as an associate pastor at Alum Rock United Methodist Church in San Jose and then at Trinity United Methodist Church in Mountain View. She was instrumental in founding the PArent Child Teacher (PACT) program, the Mountain View Whisman School District’s progressive education program, in 1996, her family said. Her daughter Johanna later attended the program. She trained as an interim pastor and also trained as a spiritual director, graduating from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 2007. She was a graduate of Leadership Mountain View, and also worked at Kyros Ministry and at the Center for Abuse Prevention. She ministered to mentally ill men in the Santa Clara County jail, and entered Juvenile Detention Ministry as part of her service as chaplain to First Church of Redwood City, UCC, where she served until her death. “Kim lived a big life. Her connections were many and they were sincere,” her sister Kelly Myers said. “Each person felt their connection was special.” She is survived by her husband Alan; daughters Thea and Johanna; mother Joann and stepfather Don Brown of Los Alamos; sister Kelly (Steve) Myers of Los Alamos, N.M.; and stepsiblings Eric Brown of Christchurch, New Zealand, and Shelley Newman of Woodland, Calif. She was preceded in death by her father Duane Smith. A celebration of life service is set for Saturday, April 30, at Foothills Congregational Church in Los Altos. Memorial gifts may be directed to First Congregational Church of Redwood City (FirstChurchRWC.org) and to Cancer Research Institute (cancerresearch.org). 12
Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
impact on this.” For now, Leong said he is waiting to see if the city is willing cover a church’s basic liability costs. The group sang a hymn, discussed what they were doing, and the church’s deacon read a Bible verse, Matthew 25:40, urging followers to treat the least of their brethren as they would their savior. Then the group broke and retired to their cars for the night. The Peters family removed the backseat of their Chevy Trailblazer to create just enough room for the four of them to squeeze in together under a pile of blankets. With the car’s interior lights on, the Peters read their girls a bedtime story. Just as the rain started, they decided to call it a night. “I just hope I don’t get a crick in my neck,” Peters said as he closed the rear hatch. It turned out to be a wet night — both outside and in the car. Condensation accumulated overnight, and the Peters family woke up to find their car was pretty moist inside. It felt like camping, Peters said the next morning —
LAWSUIT
Continued from page 1
other officials could be named as the case proceeds, he said. As evidence, he said, he would introduce “photos and statements” to show a pattern of misconduct in the police department. He estimated he would ultimately seek damages as high as seven figures for his client. “This wasn’t an isolated incident. This was a routine practice when Bosel was in charge, and now he’s the chief,” McManis told the Voice. “Trust me, we wouldn’t be filing a lawsuit if we didn’t have a good case.” The lawsuit is scheduled for a case management conference in July. City Manager Rich posted a letter to the Mountain View website on Tuesday evening in which he denied the lawsuit’s allegations without ever stating what they were. He wrote that an independent investigation that began
TRAILS
Continued from page 5
dalism no different that putting graffiti on our walls,” he said. “It’s really a mystery to me why someone would do this — it’s one of those odd things that happen.” City officials aren’t planning any particular response to the herbicide, and they say the grass should soon regrow as long as hikers avoid the new walkways. The herbicides should present no
MAGALI GAUTHIER
Susan Pimlott and her son, Luke, chat in the back of their car before going to sleep in the parking lot of St. Timothy’s Church on March 4.
not as comfortable as home but not bad for one-night. Meeting the next morning for coffee in the church, they learned that one of the families camping left their headlights on overnight, and they now needed a jump-start. But otherwise, it was a success, and it got them think-
ing about how a larger outreach program to the homeless could work, he said. “It definitely taught us some of the specific things and logistical challenges of doing this,” he said. “It was a starting point.” Email Mark Noack at mnoack@mv-voice.com
about six months ago showed the accusations were not supported by the facts. But he did note that the investigation revealed police employees had engaged in some form of inappropriate behavior in the past. Without specifying exactly what was discovered, Rich said that the city would conduct extra training on appropriate conduct for all police staff. Rich, who is acting as the city’s spokesman on the matter, told the Voice by phone Wednesday that he couldn’t add much detail, since the matter involves both litigation and personnel issues. “(The investigation) discovered behavior that the city doesn’t condone — I can’t specify what,” he said. “It was unprofessional and didn’t meet the standards we expect in a professional setting.” Whatever the behavior involved, Rich said it didn’t rise to the level of wrongdoing. Asked about the city manager’s letter, McManis dismissed it as a “laughable” attempt to cover
up what happened. “This wasn’t some swing shift sergeant; this was the chief of police. He’s an executive officer,” he said. “The city manager ought to be doing something about Chief Bosel.” Lohman’s lawsuit is not Mountain View’s only active case involving a police employee. Last year, former Mountain View police officer Nicholas Emmerling alleged he was fired after criticizing an illegal ticket quota system implemented by the department’s commanding officers. After complaining about the program, Emmerling alleged, he was punished by being scheduled to work at difficult times and he suddenly began receiving poor performance evaluations from his superiors. That case just finished its discovery period and is now moving forward to case management discussions. Email Mark Noack at mnoack@mv-voice.com
health hazards now that they’ve already soaked into the ground, Hurlburt said. Mullenex, on the other hand, said she remains a little nervous about the health impacts. Her dog became sick last week after running around the park, and she suspects the herbicides may have played a role. At the very least, she hopes that drawing attention to the problem will make the perpetrator think twice before doing it again.
Local residents are protective of Cuesta Park Annex, which is considered one of the last undeveloped open sites in Mountain View, and is next to Cuesta Park. Over a period of decades, the site’s most ardent fans have resisted efforts to develop the site into a housing development, a flood basin and a history museum, among a variety of other proposals. Email Mark Noack at mnoack@mv-voice.com
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LocalNews TASK FORCES
Continued from page 6
five years out. Rudolph, on the other hand, said the task force ought to consider â&#x20AC;&#x153;all informationâ&#x20AC;? available when designing boundaries. Unlike last year, however, the district has not inked a deal to have demographers on hand to help the task force figure out the complex enrollment puzzle. A â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;special needsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; task force Late last year, a scathing report by the firm Cambridge Education found major problems in the English-language learner and special education programs at the Mountain View Whisman School District. The 26-page report found that the district office is poorly staffed and ineffective at meeting the needs of students with
disabilities, and that the quality of education varies from school to school because â&#x20AC;&#x153;there are no specific expectations or curriculumâ&#x20AC;? for special education teachers. English-language learners, similarly, are placed into special language development classes that are wildly different from school to school, and are generally considered ineffective and even counterproductive in helping students become fluent in English, according to the report. While the school audit gives suggestions and recommendations for how to improve the poor performance in both programs, Rudolph said he wants to solicit suggestions, best practices and â&#x20AC;&#x153;collective solutionsâ&#x20AC;? on how to raise student performance in both groups. But in an unusual move, Rudolph opted to combine the two task forces into a gen-
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eral, â&#x20AC;&#x153;special needsâ&#x20AC;? committee, which he later told the Voice was an important move to accommodate parents who wanted to be on both. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Considering that we have a large number of students, who are both EL and special education, we felt that focusing on this as a larger community would net us greater results, as opposed to thinking in silos,â&#x20AC;? Rudolph wrote in an email. Because many of the parents with students in the Englishlanguage learner program are Spanish-speaking and typically are less likely to participate in district initiatives, Rudolph said he anticipates that they will take extra efforts to get the Latino community involved in the process. Facilities committee limited in scope Keeping new school construction within the constraints of the $198 Measure G bond has been a challenge for years, as costs continue to escalate in an explosive Bay Area construction market. As a result, the district will be bringing back
COMMUNITY BRIEFS Continued from page 4
youths interested in the written word. For the most part, the chosen poet will have discretion to decide how to fulfill these duties. The idea of a poet laureate was put forward by Councilman John McAlister, along with the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic development team and the second-hand bookstore BookBuyers. The effortâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lead organizer, Catherine Schikkerling, said a perfect candidate would see the ways for technology and the arts to work in tandem. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to be a division between technology and the arts,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really think that technology opens up uses for totally new media in the arts.â&#x20AC;? Those interested in applying for the role are being asked to submit five poems as well as other application materials. A soft application deadline has been set for March 15. More information can be found on the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new poet laureate website, mvpoetlaureate.com.
PLANT, NURTURE AND CLIMB A TREE This Saturday, March 12, Mountain View will celebrate its annual Arbor Day festivities with public events, tree plantings and even a tree-climbing demonstration.
the District Facilities Committee to prioritize improvements at the remaining schools that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have projects approved, and ultimately decide what ought to be cut when budget money runs short. But the committee wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be weighing in on whether Theuerkauf and Stevenson Elementary will be forced to share a budget â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and a campus â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in order to reduce costs and make the most of roughly $26 million in remaining bond money. In June last year, the District Facilities Committee laid out a rough spending plan, including a district-wide standard for what ought to be built at each of the elementary schools. But what didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fit in the plans â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and committee members admitted had to be addressed at a later date â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was what to do at the site that houses Theuerkauf, Stevenson and the district office. The districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chief Business Officer, Robert Clark, has since advocated for a sharedfacilities campus, with a single multipurpose room and library for Stevenson and Theuerkauf.
Parents and teachers have voiced opposition and concerns about the plans in recent months, but the alternative â&#x20AC;&#x201D; having separate campuses with separate, smaller budgets â&#x20AC;&#x201D; would likely trigger significant cuts to hoped-for upgrades at both schools. Rudolph has since announced plans to have school administrators, teachers and community members at both schools meet with an architect to figure out a design that works for everyone, which he later told the Voice would be an entirely separate group from the district facilities committee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Members of the District Facilities Committee are welcome to assist the school site teams with investigating all possibilities at that campus, (but) the final recommendations will be left to school sites,â&#x20AC;? Rudolph wrote in an email. Anyone interested in joining the new task forces can sign up at http://tinyurl.com/MVWSDtaskforce. Email Kevin Forestieri at kforestieri@mv-voice.com
For the first time in more than a decade, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Arbor Day celebration will be held at Rengstorff Park, instead of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downtown (and somewhat tree-deprived) Civic Center. The festivities will include a themed childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reading presentation at the city library at 10:15 a.m., followed by a tree-planting ceremony and other activities at Rengstoff Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will include arts and crafts for children, free hot dogs and drinks, and a variety of presentations. Local environmental and civic groups will provide materials on trees, composting and local tree tours. The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Forestry Division will also provide a demo on how to properly climb a tree. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Mark Noack
ceries. At the same time, the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food stamp program, CalFresh, is highly underused, and some families in need of food arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t eligible in the first place, said Kathy Jackson, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, in a press release. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even though Second Harvest is already providing food to a quarter of a million people every month, we know there are probably many more who arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t getting the nutritious food they need to stay healthy and perform at school and at work,â&#x20AC;? Jackson said in a statement. In order to boost the number of families tapping into free food provided by the food bank, Second Harvest has set up a multilingual â&#x20AC;&#x153;Food Connectionsâ&#x20AC;? hotline where anybody who needs food can call and find out about local food assistance programs. These services include Family Harvest, a program designed to provide food for families with children and young adults, and the Brown Bag program, which offers weekly groceries for seniors. There are Food Connections specialists at the Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos who are available on the first and third Thursdays of the month from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The number for the food connections hotline is 800-984-3663. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Kevin Forestieri
FOOD BANK OFFERS SERVICES BY PHONE Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is urging families who are struggling with the high cost of living to take advantage of free food programs. The 2016 Silicon Valley Index, a study by Joint Venture Silicon Valley, found that nearly 30 percent of households in the region live below the level of self-sufficiency, meaning they do not have enough money to pay the bills and have enough left over for gro-
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Republicans, Democrats, etc. I can’t explain why, but it’s always worked.” As a member of the Libertarian Party, the 66-year-old Inks has championed fiscal conservatism and small government in his two terms on the Mountain View City Council. He has stood by those principles, making him the odd man out in some important council decisions. In recent months, Inks was the lone opponent against a citywide rent-relief program, a downtown hotel project and rapid housing development in the city’s tech-focused North Bayshore region. If elected to the state Legislature, Inks said he would bring strong experience in transit and water policy. A pillar of his campaign, he said, would be protecting Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 ballot measure that capped property-tax increases in California. With roughly 90 days to go before the June primary election, Inks admits that he has a lot of work to do to catch up to the other candidates, some of whom have been planning their campaigns since last year. He has already received a number of unsolicited donations from supporters, he said, and he plans to launch campaign materials and
a social media presence soon. He said he intends to submit his official campaign statement in the coming days, covering the $4,000 filing fee through a personal loan to his campaign. Cabrera is what might be called a serial candidate for political office. A 1998 graduate of Gunn High School, he has run unsuccessfully for public office five times before — including for mayor of San Francisco, mayor of Santa Cruz, state Assembly and the Palo Alto Board of Education. For this June election, Cabrera is not limiting himself to the Assembly race, and he has also taken out papers to run for the U.S. Senate, and two seats in two different districts of the U.S. House of Representatives. The other candidates in the race are another Mountain View council member, Mike Kasperzak, Palo Alto attorney Vicki Veenker, Menlo Park Councilman Peter Ohtaki, Cupertino Mayor Barry Chang, Palo Alto Councilman Marc Berman, venture capitalist Josh Becker and Palo Alto resident Seelam Reddy. The candidates will compete in the June 7 primary election, and the top two candidates will face off in the November election. Gordon, the incumbent, is leaving due to term limits. Email Mark Noack at mnoack@mv-voice.com V
Run for Zimbabwe, fix the plumbing This year, it’s all about the plumbing. The annual Run for Zimbabwe Orphans, an exuberant fundraiser that combines crosscountry fun runs for all ages with a cultural fair featuring African music and crafts, is set for noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, at St. Joseph School, 1120 Miramonte Ave. in Mountain View. According to organizer Ellen Clark of the Sustainable Living Foundation, proceeds from the event will be used to retrofit the Makumbi Children’s Home with new piping for water and sanitation, addressing a health hazard facing the 100 children who live there. Last year’s Zimbabwe Run raised $32,000, which was used to eradicate a major termite infestation at the orphanage, according to Clark. A new feature at this 17th annual event is a walk-on board game designed to teach kids about the importance of clean water and sanitation. It’s in addition to the 13 cross-country runs, live music, an African art contest and a shoe drive. Gently used shoes will be collected and donated to African children in need. There’s a $5 race entry fee, which Clark has said is set low to encourage as many people to participate as possible. Admission to the fair
COURTESY SUSTAINABLE LIVING FOUNDATION
A girl from the Makumbi Children’s Home in Zimbabwe carries water on her head. This year’s annual Run for Zimbabwe is raising money for a major plumbing repair project at the orphanage.
is free. More information is available at ZimbabweParaguay.net or by calling the race hotline at 650-941-9206. —Andrea Gemmet V
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All information is subject to change. All imagery is representational. View may vary per home. Residential renderings are an artist’s conception only and are not intended to represent specific architectural or community details. Talent does not reflect ethnic preferences.
March 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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G U I D E T O 2016 S U M M E R C A M P S F O R K I D S
For more information about these camps, see our online directory of camps at www.paloaltoonline.com/biz/summercamps/ To advertise in this weekly directory, call: 650.326.8210
Arts, Culture, Other Camps Art and Soul Summer Camps
Palo Alto
Summer Unplugged! Art, Cooking, Yoga and Mindfulness. Weekly full, morning or afternoon options. Walter Hays Elementary School. Kinder-Grade Seven. June 6 –July 22. Register online.
www.artandsoulpa.com
650.269.0423
Camp Galileo: 40+ Bay Area Locations Innovation Camps for Kids Inspire a spirit of bold exploration in your pre-k – 5th grader. Art, science and outdoor fun while building lasting innovation skills like how to embrace challenges and create without fear. Four fresh themes for 2016.
www.galileo-camps.com
1.800.854.3684
Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA)
Mountain View
50+ creative camps for Gr. K-8! Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Sculpture, Musical Theater, School of Rock, Digital Arts, more! One- and two-week sessions; full and half-day enrollment. Extended care available. Financial aid offered.
www.arts4all.org
650.917.6800 ext. 0
Environmental Volunteers Summer Camp
Palo Alto
Academics
J-Camp at the Oshman Family JCC
Palo Alto
www.ofjcc-jcamp.com
iD Tech Camps
650.223.8622
Menlo School Sports Camps
Atherton
Menlo camps are designed for boys and girls grades 4–12 to learn from Knights coaches and staff. Join us this summer to develop skills, foster athleticism and promote sportsmanship in camps covering a range of sports — baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer and water polo.
www.menloschool.org
Nike Tennis Camps
650.330.2001 ext. 2758
Stanford University
Junior Overnight and Day Camps for boys & girls, ages 9-18 offered throughout June, July and August. Adult Weekend Clinics (June & Aug). Camps directed by Head Men’s Coach, Paul Goldstein, Head Women’s Coach, Lele Forood, and Associate Men’s and Women’s Coaches, Brandon Coupe and Frankie Brennan. Come join the fun and get better this summer!
www.EVols.org/Explore
650.493.8000
Palo Alto Community Child Care (PACCC)
Palo Alto
Stanford Baseball Camps have gained national recognition as the some of the finest in the country. These camps are designed to be valuable and beneficial for a wide range of age groups and skill sets. From the novice 7 year-old, to the Division 1, professionally skilled high school player, you will find a camp that fulfills your needs.
Stanford
EXPLORE biomedical science at Stanford! Stanford EXPLORE offers high schoolers the unique opportunity to learn from Stanford professors and graduate students about diverse topics in biomedical science, including bioengineProgramering, neurobiology, immunology and many others.
explore.stanford.edu
explore-series@stanford.edu
Stanford Jazz Workshop
Stanford University
Week-long jazz immersion programs for young musicians in middle school (starts July 13), high school (July 19 and July 26), and college, as well as adults (August 2). All instruments and vocals.
stanfordjazz.org
TheatreWorks Summer Camps
Palo Alto
In these entertaining camps for grades K-5, students enjoy juggling, clowning, puppetry, playwriting, acting, improvisation, music, dance — and present their own original pieces at the end of each session.
www.theatreworks.org/learn/youth/summercamps
Athletics Hi-Five Sports Summer Camp
Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton, CA
Children enjoy up to 8 different team sports a week of outdoor fun and fundamentals. With over 25 years of experience and we are the best provider of youth recreational sports in the nation!
www.hifivesportsclubs.com/ 650.362.4975 bayarea_camp_summer_camp_atherton/
1.800.NIKE.CAMP (645.3226)
Stanford Baseball Camps
Stanford Campus
www.Stanfordbaseballcamp.com Stanford Water Polo
650.723.4528 Stanford
Ages 7 and up. New to sport or have experience, we have a camp for you. Half day or fully day option for boys and girls. All the camps offer fundamental skill work, scrimmages and games.
www.stanfordwaterpolocamps.com
650.493.2361
STANFORD EXPLORE: A Lecture Series on Biomedical Research
San Jose
Harker summer programs for preschool – grade 12 children include opportunities for academics, arts, athletics and activities. Taught by exceptional, experienced faculty and staff, our programs offer something for everyone in a safe and supportive environment.
www.USSportsCamps.com
www.paccc.org
Harker Summer Programs
Adventure awaits at J-Camp! With options for grades K-12 that fit every schedule and interest, you can mix and match camps to meet your family’s needs. Are you looking for well-rounded camp sessions that focus on variety and building friendships? We’ve got you covered. Does your child have specific talents you’d like them to explore in depth? Send them our way. We’re looking forward to our best summer ever and want your family to be part of the experience!
Discover nature this summer at Explore! & Girls In Science summer day camps with the Environmental Volunteers in Palo Alto! Field trips, live animals, and hands-on science activities will bring nature alive to kids in grades 1-6. Register and learn more.
PACCC summer camps offer campers, grades 1st to 6th, a wide variety of fun opportunities! We are excited to introduce two new camps to our lineup this year: Leaders in Training (L.I.T.) and PACCC Special Interest Units (S.I.U.). Also included are returning favorites F.A.M.E. (Fine Arts, Music and Entertainment), J.V. Sports and Operation: Chef! Periodic field trips, special visitors and many engaging camp activities, songs and skits round out the fun offerings of PACCC Summer Camps! Open to campers from all communities! Come join the fun in Palo Alto! Register online.
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Athletics
650.725.9016
Palo Alto High School
Girls ages 10-15 discover technology in a unique environment that celebrates creativity, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship. Girls learn engineering principles, code games, design websites, model and print 3D objects, and much more.
www.iDTech.com
Bay Area Pathways Academy (BAPA)
1.844.788.1858
College of San Mateo
The Bay Area Pathways Academy(tm) (BAPA) is an enhanced new summer for students entering grades 6 to 9 which offers an exciting array of grade-appropriate academic classes, engaging enrichment classes and fun fitness and aquatics classes, including the opportunity to register for up to 3 two-week sessions.
www.BayAreaPathwaysAcademy.org
Castilleja Summer Camp for Girls
650.574.6149
Palo Alto
Casti Camp offers girls a range of age-appropriate activities including athletics, art, science, computers, writing, crafts, cooking, drama and music classes each day along with weekly field trips.
www.castilleja.org/summercamp
Galileo Summer Quest
650.328.3160
8+ South Bay Area Locations
Twelve innovative majors to explore. 5th – 8th graders dive into a subject that inspires you. Design video games, engineer catapults, build go-karts, paint with electricity, create a delectable dish. Every week is a new opportunity to realize your personal vision.
www.galileo-camps.com
Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
408.553.5737
Stanford
Students ages 7–17 can learn to code, design video games, mod Minecraft, engineer robots, model 3D characters, build websites, print 3D models, and more. Campers meet new friends, learn awesome STEM skills, and gain self-confidence.
www.iDTech.com
1.844.788.1858
iD Tech Mini
Palo Alto
At Palo Alto High School. Kids ages 6-9 can discover programming, game design, robotics, or graphic design. And with an emphasis on creativity, friendship, and exploration, every camper becomes a maker of fun. We’ve packed every halfday camp session with tons of tech awesomeness.
www.iDTech.com
1.844.788.1858
iD Programming Academy
Stanford
At this two-week, overnight academy, students ages 13-18 explore advanced topics in programming, app development, electrical engineering, and robotics. Create an awesome portfolio, get industry insights, and gain a competitive advantage for college and future careers.
www.iDTech.com
1.844.788.1858
iD Game Design and Development Academy
Stanford
At this two-week, overnight academy, students ages 13-18 explore advanced topics in 3D modeling and printing, video game design, programming, and level design. Create an awesome portfolio, get industry insights, and gain a competitive advantage for college and future careers.
www.iDTech.com
1.844.788.1858
Mid-Peninsula High School Summer Session
Academics Alexa Café
www.summer.harker.org
1.800.854.3684
Menlo Park
Mid-Pen’s Summer Session provides innovative, one-week courses that go beyond traditional high school curriculum. Our program offers students courses for summer enrichment and make up high school credits. We have designed creative courses in math, science, English, and Spanish, with options including Physics of Flight and Rocketry, History of the Reagan Years, College Essay Workshop, Creative Writing, Introduction to the Digital Arts, and Drama. Basketball and volleyball clinics suitable for beginning to advanced players. All high school students are welcome to attend. Dates are June 20th to July 21st. Classes are held from 9:30am–2:30pm. Visit our website for full class listings.
www.mid-pen.org
Write Now! Summer Writing Camps
650.321.1991
Palo Alto / Pleasanton
Improve your student’s writing skills this summer at Emerson School of Palo Alto and Hacienda School of Pleasanton. Courses this year are Expository Writing, Creative Writing, and Presentation Techniques. Visit our website for more information.
www.headsup.org
Emerson: 650.424.1267 Hacienda: 925.485.5750
YMCA Summer Camps Throughout Silicon Valley At the Y, children and teens of all abilities acquire new skills, make friends, and feel that they belong. With hundreds of Summer Day Camps at 30+ locations plus Overnight Camps, you will find a camp that’s right for your family. Financial assistance is available.
www.ymcasv.org/summer
408.351.5473
LocalNews
Court rulings gives big boost to high-speed rail By Gennady Sheyner
C
alifornia’s high-speed rail system surged past a major legal obstacle this week when a Sacramento Superior Court judge tossed out a long-simmering lawsuit from the Central Valley. The 2011 suit by John Tos, Aaron Fukuda and the County of Kings, maintained that the proposed rail system violates the provisions of Proposition 1A, a 2008 bond measure that allocated $9.95 billion for the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles rail system. By revising the design of the system so that high-speed rail will now share a set of tracks with Caltrain along the Peninsula, the agency has strayed from the plans that were presented to the voters before the 2008 vote, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued during a three-day hearing in Sacramento in February. The initial plan called for a fourtrack alignment between San Francisco and San Jose. The change, the plaintiffs have argued, is significant because the blended system would undermine the rail system’s ability to achieve the state-mandated goal of going from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes. This would make the rail system ineligible for the bond funds and for federal funds, which are contingent on having state money being available. In a judgment issued March 4, Judge Michael P. Kenny concurred that the California High Speed Rail Authority does not have sufficient evidence at this time to show that it can comply with all of the requirements of the 2008 bond. The authority, which is charged with building the $64 billion project, has not yet provided the analysis of the trip time from San Jose to the San Francisco Transbay Terminal (its analysis still relies on San Francisco’s lone Caltrain station at 4th and King streets, which is about 1.3 miles south of Transbay Terminal), Kenny noted. Nor has it shown that it can achieve a fiveminute headway (the amount of time between trains), as mandated by law.
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pest back into the home, he said. After receiving a tip late last year, officials from the California Department of Social Services performed a string of sur-
By denying the plaintiff ’s request that the project be halted, Kenny handed a massive victory to what has been a deeply divisive and controversial project. While supporters, including Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic majority in the Legislature, consistently laud high-speed rail as a much needed solution to ease traffic congestion, create jobs and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, critics have panned it as a “boondoggle” that has nowhere near the funds it needs to become a reality. Peninsula residents and elected officials in cities including Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton, had raised doubts about the system’s financial projections, ridership estimates and proposed alignment, which initially called for four tracks, with an elevated berm in the
middle for the new bullet train. By shifting to the blended approach, which was first proposed by Peninsula lawmakers in 2012, the rail authority has helped calm some of these anxieties. The project also picked up some momentum last month, when the rail authority released a new business plan showing the price tag dipping from $67.6 billion two years ago to $64.2 billion. The new business plan also announced a major change of direction for the rail authority: Rather than launching construction of the line exclusively in Central Valley, the agency now plans to build the first operating segment between San Francisco and Bakersfield. In presenting the business plan to the rail authority’s board of director’s Tuesday morning, rail authority CEO Jeff Morales called the new proposal “the game-changer, in terms of delivering the program.” The business plan relies mostly on bond funds and on proceeds from the state’s cap-and-trade program for building the first operating segment, between the Bay Area and Central Valley. Rail officials hope further improvements and expansions would be financed, at least in part, by private investments and federal contributions. “For the first time, within available resources, we can actually project out to delivering an operating system,” Morales told the board Tuesday. The board voiced no major concerns Tuesday about the dramatic change of direction in the new business plan. Board member Daniel Curtin said he is “very excited about the new development,” which he said would bring new economic opportunities to the two regions that would be connected by high-speed rail. “We all see the economic pressures being put on the Bay Area by Silicon Valley,” Curtin said. “This is a whole change in how that can be approached that, really to me, is the first signal of what high-speed rail will do for California.” Board Chair Dan Richard agreed and lauded the plan for laying out for the public “how we can build the system.” “What is really here, is the sense that we can build this now,” Richard said. Email Gennady Sheyner at gsheyner@paweekly.com
prise inspections at San Antonio Manor. The inspectors cited the home for a total of 56 violations. Last month, officials decided to revoke the owner’s license to operate, saying she was not taking swift enough action to correct the problems. All of the
residents were relocated to other certified facilities or to the care of their families. Carrera and her attorney have appealed the case to an administrative law judge working under the Social Services Department.
However, Kenny wrote, the rail authority “may be able to accomplish these objectives at some point in the future.” He called high-speed rail an “ongoing, dynamic, changing project” and concurred with a recent ruling from the state Court of Appeal, which found that because the project is in flux, it cannot determine whether the project would meet the requirements of the Bond Act. “There is no evidence currently before the Court that the blended system will not comply with the Bond Act system requirements,” Kenny wrote in his ruling. “Although Plaintiffs have raised compelling questions about potential future compliance, the Authority has not yet submitted a funding plan seeking to expend Bond Act funds. Thus, the issue of the project’s compliance with the Bond Act is not ripe for review.” Without the necessary analysis, Kenny reasoned, it is premature to determine whether the proposed system would meet the requirements of the 2008 bond. There are, as of today, “still too many unknown variables, and in absence of a funding plan, too many assumption that must be made as to what the Authority’s final decisions will be.” A big win
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BECOME A VOLUNTEER MEDIATOR FOR THE MOUNTAIN VIEW MEDIATION PROGRAM The Mountain View Mediation Program is now accepting applications from interested persons who live, work, or own property in Mountain View. Typical cases handled by the program include disputes between: ;LUHU[Z HUK 3HUKSVYKZ 5LPNOIVYZ *VUZ\TLYZ HUK 4LYJOHU[Z ;OL WYVNYHT ZWVUZVYLK I` [OL *P[` VM 4V\U[HPU =PL^ seeks applicants, representative of the ethnic and LJVUVTPJ KP]LYZP[` VM [OL *P[` )PSPUN\HS HWWSPJHU[Z HYL particularly encouraged.
Deadline for submitting an application is March 18, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. Application is available at www.mountainview.gov under Announcements or News For more information, call the Mediation Program at
650-960-0495
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING ISSUANCE OF MULTIFAMILY HOUSING REVENUE BONDS FOR EVELYN FAMILY APARTMENTS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, at 6:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter can be heard, on Tuesday, March 29, 2016, at the Council Chambers, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, California, the City Council of the City of Mountain View (the “City”) will conduct a public hearing as required by Section 147(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, at which it will hear and consider information concerning a proposed WSHU VM ÄUHUJPUN WYV]PKPUN MVY [OL PZZ\HUJL I` [OL *HSPMVYUPH Statewide Communities Development Authority of multifamily housing revenue bonds in one or more series issued from time to time, including bonds issued to refund such revenue bonds in one or more series from time to time, and at no time to exceed $35,000,000 in outstanding aggregate WYPUJPWHS HTV\U[ [V ÄUHUJL [OL HJX\PZP[PVU JVUZ[Y\J[PVU HUK development of a 116-unit multifamily rental housing project located at 110 S. Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, California 94041. The facilities are to be owned by Bernardo Avenue Family Apartments, L.P. (the “Borrower”) or related entities, operated by FPI Management, Inc., and are generally known as Evelyn Family Apartments (the “Project”). ;OVZL ^PZOPUN [V JVTTLU[ VU [OL WYVWVZLK ÄUHUJPUN and the nature and location of the Project may either appear in person at the public hearing or submit written comments, which must be received by the City prior to the hearing. Written comments should be sent to City of Mountain View at City Hall, 500 Castro Street, 3rd Floor, Mountain View, California 94041, Attention: City Clerk. CITY CLERK City of Mountain View Dated: March 11, 2016 March 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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Viewpoint
Q EDITORIAL Q YOUR LETTERS Q GUEST OPINIONS
The reality about homeless in our community A welcome step forward Bykids Dr. Michael Fischetti Q EDITORIAL
THE OPINION OF THE VOICE
Founding Editor, Kate Wakerly
Q S TA F F EDITOR Andrea Gemmet (223-6537) EDITORIAL Associate Editor Renee Batti (223-6528) Arts & Entertainment Editor Elizabeth Schwyzer (223-6517) Special Sections Editor Brenna Malmberg (223-6511) Staff Writers Kevin Forestieri (223-6535) Mark Noack (223-6536) Photographer Michelle Le (223-6530) Contributors Dale Bentson, Trevor Felch, Mimm Patterson, Ruth Schecter DESIGN & PRODUCTION Marketing and Creative Director Shannon Corey (223-6560) Design and Production Manager Kristin Brown (223-6562) Designers Linda Atilano, Diane Haas, Rosanna Leung, Paul Llewellyn, Nick Schweich, Doug Young ADVERTISING Vice President Sales and Marketing Tom Zahiralis (223-6570) Advertising Representative Adam Carter (223-6573) Real Estate Account Executive Rosemary Lewkowitz (223-6585) Published every Friday at 450 Cambridge Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94306 (650) 964-6300 fax (650) 964-0294 Email news and photos to: editor@MV-Voice.com Email letters to: letters@MV-Voice.com News/Editorial Department (650) 964-6300 fax (650) 964-0294 Display Advertising Sales (650) 964-6300 Classified Advertising Sales (650) 964-6490 • (650) 326-8286 fax (650) 326-0155 Email Classified ads@MV-Voice.com Email Circulation circulation@MV-Voice.com The Voice is published weekly by Embarcadero Media Co. and distributed free to residences and businesses in Mountain View. If you are not currently receiving the paper, you may request free delivery by calling 9646300. Subscriptions for $60 per year, $100 per 2 years are welcome. ©2016 by Embarcadero Media Company. All rights reserved. Member, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce
Q WHAT’S YOUR VIEW? All views must include a home address and contact phone number. Published letters will also appear on the web site, www.MountainViewOnline.com, and occasionally on the Town Square forum. Town Square forum Post your views on Town Square at MountainViewOnline.com Email your views to letters@MV-Voice.com. Indicate if letter is to be published. Mail to: Editor Mountain View Voice, P.O. Box 405 Mountain View, CA 94042-0405 Call the Viewpoint desk at 223-6528
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for a new community in North Bayshore
V
oters who supported three successful candidates in the 2014 City Council race based on those candidates’ commitment to exploring housing options for North Bayshore should take satisfaction from the council’s big step forward last week, when it indicated strong support for the building of as many as 10,250 homes in that region of the city. The housing plan, though not yet official, was discussed during the council’s March 1 review of the North Bayshore “precise plan,” which maps out the city’s land-use policies for the area — home to Google, LinkedIn and other high-tech firms employing thousands of people in a town with a jobs-to-housing ratio dismally out of balance. The development, signaled by the newly composed council about a year ago, is a welcome change in direction for the city. Before Pat Showalter, Ken Rosenberg and Lenny Siegel took their council seats in December 2014, the City Council opposed housing in North Bayshore, and instead supported a plan to greatly expand office space there. That lopsided vision for the region was decried by many in the community who have long urged the city’s leaders to get serious about addressing a housing shortage that continues to spike housing costs and make rental units accessible only to very high-income earners. The current council’s vision for North Bayshore includes creation of a livable neighborhood that would include a spectrum of housing options, accommodating residents ranging from single people working nearby to families with children. Council members emphasized that the new housing’s affordability shouldn’t be limited to high-wage workers, and they asked city staff to bring back options that would substantially boost the number of below-market-rate housing units in the North Bayshore community. Those options are likely to include incentives such as density bonuses offered by the city to developers who increase the number of below-market-rate units in their projects. Also envisioned are provisions for mass transit, a police substation and land set aside for a school that might well be needed in the future. As already noted, the council’s new vision for North Bayshore isn’t yet firmed up, and there are many details to work out. Another council review of options for the area’s future is expected in April. As city leaders well know, planning what is hoped to be a new viable community in Mountain View must be done with care. The city faces a number of challenges, including the need to devise sound transportation management strategies to prevent making Mountain View’s already overburdened roads and freeways far worse congested, and to protect the ecosystem that supports wildlife in Shoreline Park and on the edge of the Bay. As council member Siegel noted at last week’s meeting, “This is an innovative plan with a lot of moving parts, and it has to be done right.” V
Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
A
t the City Council meeting on Feb. 23, council member Ken Rosenberg was appalled by the number of K-12 students reported to be homeless in our community. The U.S. Department of Education requires all public schools in the nation to report all known homeless K-12 students. Homelessness is defined as having no regular permanent home to live in and includes those who double up with family or friends; live in shelters, motels, hotels, or cars; or have no housing at all. During the 2013-14 school year there were 1.36 million homeless students in the United States. This is a doubling from seven years earlier. In California for the same period, there were 310,000 homeless students, an increase of about 37 percent. Only Mississippi and Alabama had more homeless students per capita than California. In Santa Clara County, there were 4,300 homeless students in 2013-14. The mandated data collected by the Department of Education is based on known homeless children — that is, those who come forward or are known to be homeless. As such it surely represents a significant undercount. The information is collated by the Lucile Packard Foundation in Palo Alto and reported
Guest Opinion
on kidsdata.org. The contact there is Regan Faust. The data are sorted by legislative district, grade level, location of nighttime residence, and school district. Using these data for our city, we find for 2014: Q 45 homeless students are in the Mountain View Whisman School District. And 90 are in the Mountain View Los Altos High School District, for a total of 135 students. Q One-third of the K-8 and one-sixth of the high school homeless students stayed in shelters, motels, hotels, or vehicles. Q Of these 135 students, 22 percent were K-5, 12 percent were in grades 6–8, and 66 percent were in grades 9–12. Stepping back from the numbers, it is important to note that the number of homeless students in the U.S. has doubled following the great recession. And this number has remained high, likely sustained by stagnant wages and skyrocketing rents. Greed can be considered one of the underlying factors. If this does not bother us deeply, then we are not paying attention, do not care, or accept the fantasy that if we leave it to the market it will all work out. A task force of school administrators, the ComContinued on next page
Viewpoint GUEST OPINION Continued from page 18
munity Health Awareness Council, the Community Service Agency, law enforcement, health professionals and the city could address the issue and aim for zero homeless kids in our community as articulated by council member Rosenberg. Dr. Michael Fischetti is on the board of directors of the Mountain View-based nonprofit Hopeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Corner.
Q LETTERS
VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
THIS ISNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T ARKANSAS On the front page of the March 4 edition of the Mountain View Voice, the lead story talked about the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal to â&#x20AC;&#x153;boost affordable housing.â&#x20AC;? Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s affordable in this valley? Absolutely nothing. For that reason, I wish the council, the newspaper, and everyone else would stop using that term. Perhaps â&#x20AC;&#x153;afford-
ableâ&#x20AC;? makes sense for $125,000 homes in Arkansas, but certainly not here. Tim Orlando Marilyn Drive
WHO WILL BE LIABLE FOR DATA BREACH? In the recent articles on the well-funded parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; group who have gained access to all the
Peninsula Easter Services Los Altos Lutheran Church
PALM SUNDAY: March 20
9:30 +RW &URVV %XQV SLFQLF DUHD 10 AM :RUVKLS
TRIDUUM: The Three Days Maundy Thursday â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 0DUFK DW 30 Jesus washed their feet, love one another Good Friday â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 0DUFK ͸ǣ͜͜ ÇŁ Meditating on the cross, service of prayer ͽǣ͜͜ Â&#x2021;Â?Â&#x2021;Â&#x201E;Â&#x201D;Â&#x192;Â&#x2021;ÇŁ Scripture, Psalms, continuing vigil Easter Vigil â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 0DUFK DW 30 Candlelight service, gather in patio
EASTER SUNDAY: March 27 Peninsula Easter Services is a resource for ongoing religious services and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in Peninsula Easter Services, please email Blanca Yoc at byoc@paweekly.com or call 223-6596.
9 AM Easter breakfast Č&#x20AC; 10 AM Worship All welcome for breakfast, Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s egg hunt after the service
data on California public school students, in what appears to be a fishing expedition, I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen any real description of who and what this group is, or what kind of â&#x20AC;&#x153;special needsâ&#x20AC;? problems theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re concerned about, or what the evidence is that special needs are not being addressed in the schools. Why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we have more information on this group â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who they are, who is funding them, what particular â&#x20AC;&#x153;special needsâ&#x20AC;? are so important that we have to risk exposure of the personal data of millions of California
children on their quest. If there is a major data breach here, is this parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; group and its sponsors going to be liable? Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s certainly no way the judge who granted them access will ever be personally liable. When the huge database of student records for millions of California school children is hacked, does the CPA in Morgan Hill have enough money to compensate those whose personal data has been compromised? David Lewis Oak Street
ST. MARKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S EPISCOPAL CHURCH PALO ALTO Maundy Thursday â&#x20AC;&#x201D; March 24 Y 6:15pm
Monastic Supper & Liturgy of the Word followed by Holy Eucharist & Stripping of the Altar
Good Friday â&#x20AC;&#x201D; March 25 Y Noon to 2:00pm A service focused on "The Adversaries and Companions of Jesus" Y 2:00 to 3:00pm Devotional Labyrinth Meditation Y 7:30 to 8:30pm Tenebrae: The Office of Shadows
Easter â&#x20AC;&#x201D; March 27 Y 5:30am Y 8:00 to 9:30am Y 10:00am
Easter Vigil, Eucharist & Baptism Festive Breakfast & Family Easter Activities Festive Holy Eucharist
600 Colorado Ave, P.A. (650) 326-3800 www.saint-marks.com
Immanuel Lutheran Church 1715 Grant Road | Los Altos 650.967.4906 | www.ilclosaltos.com
www.LosAltosLutheran.org / 460 S. El Monte Ave.
Come Join Us for Holy Week Services! Palm Sunday, March 20 at 10 am Procession with Palms
Good Friday, March 25 at 6 pm
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stations of the Crossâ&#x20AC;? Interactive meditation and prayer A truly moving experience for all ages!
Easter Sunday, March 27 at 9 & 11 am For more info: 650 494 3840 | pbc.org
Festive celebration for the whole family!
3505 Middlefield Rd. Palo Alto, CA 94306 March 11, 2016 Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q
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61 SHEFFIELD COURT MOUNTAIN VIEW
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2.5 BATHS
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CLOSE TO DOWNTOWN & CALTRAIN
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650 • 440 • 5076 david@davidtroyer.com davidtroyer.com CalBRE# 01234450
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Q Mountain View Voice Q MountainViewOnline.com Q March 11, 2016
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