Oak Grove school board votes to sell Calero School

The Oak Grove School District board voted Thursday to proceed with the sale of Calero School, an elementary school in southeast San Jose that has been closed for almost a generation.

The sale of the school – bids will begin in April next year – was vehemently opposed by hundreds of residents from the Calero neighborhood, a quiet, tree-lined South San Jose neighborhood worried about traffic, congestion, the loss of a baseball field, and property devaluation.

But during the tense public hearing, teachers, parents and neighborhood association leaders spoke in support of the sale.

The district plans to sell the 10-acre site for at least $23 million, and use interest from the invested capital for new computers, summer school, music and arts programs and school grounds improvements.

Deirdre Downing, an elementary school teacher, told the board during the public comment period of the lack of computers in her classrooms, and using very old computers for her classwork.

“I’m asking the board to bring us to modern times,” Downing said.

Residents, who have come to consider and use the sports field behind Calero as a neighborhood park, feared traffic and congestion, and how development of the property would affect home values.

Kathleen and Eric Duncan were skeptical of a demographer’s projection that the district of more than 11,000 students will not need space at Calero. Another resident, Josephine Livingstone, questioned the decision to sell a school while hundreds of school children are using portables.

But Superintendent Manny Barbara said the portables at many school sites are used to reduce classroom sizes, and accommodate an extended day care program and special education students. Based on projections, the district has plenty of classroom space for future use. Three public schools in the district, closed in the 1980s and 1990s during declining enrollment, are on long-term leases with private schools.

The district was also working with a local baseball league to find another playing field, Barbara said.

“We would be remiss if we didn’t take this opportunity before us,” said board member Jeremy Nishihara, before the board voted 5-0 to sell Calero.

“We must make our decisions not based on the passions of the moment, but based on what’s best for the future,” said board vice president Dennis Hawkins.