Danville and Diablo residents should know that local students are being diverted away from their home schools of Green Valley Elementary and Los Cerros Middle schools. It doesn't matter if you are already attending the school -- these diversions are not restricted to "new" residents. For example, you might find an older sibling attending Green Valley, but your new kindergartner sent across town to a different school! Some of last year's fifth grade graduating class from Green Valley were diverted to cross-town middle schools because the Los Cerros 6th grade class was full. These children won't be with any of their neighborhood peers or friends during middle school. If your child is diverted, the TRAFFIX program won't be available to you, and you will have to transport your child across town through traffic twice daily to and from the diversion school, wherever that may be. (The district does not provide transportation for diversions.)

Moreover, this situation is slated to become dramatically worse. SRVUSD was asked by the Town of Danville to comment on San Ramon-based developer SummerHill Homes proposed major new subdivision on Jed Magee's land along the Diablo Road corridor. This was the school district's warning:

Novemer 16, 2010

Mr. Crompton:

Thank you for allowing the District the opportunity to comment on the above-mentioned project. ... The project is within the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. The resident schools for this project are Green Valley Elementary, Los Cerros Middle, and Monte Vista High Schools. Due to overcrowding in the Dist1ict, it is possible that students residing in this subdivision may be diverted to other schools.

Sincerely,

Karen DeJesus

Facilities Planning Analyst

Do Danville and Diablo residents want to find their children diverted to schools across town? (Even worse, some but not all of your children?) Do you want to live year after year with the annual anxiety of the "lottery" to find out if your child has been diverted across town, disrupting your life and theirs? If not, oppose SummerHill's disastrous subdivision. Go to the Town website here for contact information for our Town Council members...

Web Link

...and call them personally to let them know where you live, and that you oppose the additional traffic and school diversions that SummerHill Homes new subdivision will create. You can also email them as follows:

Karen Stepper: kstepper@danville.ca.gov

Robert Storer: storer@danville.ca.gov

Mike Doyle: mdoyle@danville.ca.gov

Newell Arnerich: arnerich@danville.ca.gov

Candace Andersen: candersen@danville.ca.gov

These folks need to know how much you care, and that you are watching to make sure that they protect your children, your rights, your interests, and your lifestyles. Tell them!

Another good resource is www.save-our-creek.com. This is a growing grass-roots organization of local residents banding together to protect their interests against the powerful out-of-town developer SummerHill Homes. Sign their petition, join their advocacy efforts, and contribute to their legal fund, before it's too late!