Approach school demolition cautiously

Foster City City Council

City of Foster City

610 Foster City Boulevard

Foster City, CA 94404

Honorable Members of the City Council:

Consideration of any resolution by the city council regarding the demolition of San Mateo High School should be approached very cautiously and with great care. Councilwoman Deborah Wilder is misinformed about San Mateo High School, and it would be a shame if this misinformation found its way into a council resolution. The assertions in her letter to The Independent (2/5/02) are not based on facts. Save San Mateo High School (SSMHS) urges all Councilmembers to inform themselves of the facts prior to consideration of any resolution by waiting until the environmental review process is completed by the San Mateo Unified High School District (SMUHSD).

The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) will be published shortly. It will contain several rehabilitation/retrofit alternatives to demolition and a cost estimate attachment showing how the high school could be repaired and rehabilitated in accordance with the voters' Measure D mandate. Voters supported using public bond money to modernize school facilities to meet current safety, technological and educational standards. Rehabilitation of San Mateo High will vastly improve it from what it is today, as is being done with Burlingame High School, resulting in a safe, state-of-the-art learning environment for future generations of students. SSMHS believes that any attempt to circumvent the will of the voters by using public bond money for purposes not approved by the voters is legally and ethically untenable.

There is no factual basis for Ms. Wilder's claim that