How about building down? Do a "finished basement" that could double as a fallout shelter.

There is a driveway that runs along the edge of campus on that side. These buildings are not abutting their backyards.

Virtually all of the growth in student enrollment is from neighborhoods north of El Camino Real. Why are they not building there? Have they no concern for student and family commute times? For traffic? The district could sell excess land at MVHS to finance new land closer to the new students. This $294M boondoggle gets a "no" vote from me.

This district passed two earlier bond measures making the same claims about increasing enrollment and crumbling facilities. But money grows on trees around here. Local governments just want to harvest their desired share. And newspaper editors always go along - even when the "plan" for the money is, shall we say, flexible.

@ Waldo

It makes absolutely no sense to build another high school campus here just because more students are coming from north of El Camino. As the parent of a high school student from that area, I can tell you that it is not too much to expect a teenager to be able to get to Los Altos High from that area. It is about 2 miles, which is no more than 15 minutes on a bike. Far closer than high schools in other districts, including the one I attended.

There is very little available space in the north of El Camino area large enough for a school of any kind, much less a high school campus that would be equivalent to Los Altos or Mountain View. If you don't believe me, you should ask LASD, which has been looking for a new site for an elementary school in that area for the past 3 years. The only sites available are much smaller than the current sites and not even close to the size of a high school campus. The cost of the property alone would be far more than the entire bond and that would be without any construction costs. Add to that the cost of an entire staff to support the same classes offered at the existing schools and you increase the cost to the district by at least 50% of what it is currently.

There is plenty of room on the current campuses to expand as long as it is done thoughtfully. If most of the construction is done during the summer, it need not be that disruptive. Perhaps the student services building could be placed near the homes and the new two story classroom building placed where the current student services building is located. This would keep the classroom buildings closer together and only place a single story building near the homes. The community just needs to keep an eye on the process.

As long as the facilities are maintained and upgraded, they should be able to absorb more students. However, the city of Mountain View needs to stop allowing so much building unless they do a better job ensuring appropriate services for all those new residents. No further housing should be added without a specific plan from the city that states where they intend to have those new people attend school, get water, dispose of garbage, get police and fire services, etc. The area is getting too crowded and the city of Mountain View has been negligent in providing services for all the people they are allowing to move here. Plan should come BEFORE the people get here, not after.