Frequently Asked Questions

Who is organizing this effort?

This is a community grass roots effort working to demonstrate community support for a neighborhood school with a STEM focus as a viable solution to bringing a 9th school into the district at the Slater or Whisman campus. We are not affiliated with the MVWSD. Volunteers involved in organizing the effort

How can I get involved?

Join our mailing list

What did the BATF Recommend?

The two main actions BATF is recommending that impact the Whisman-Slater area are:

- Rezone the Wagon Wheel neighborhood from Huff to Theurekauf (why? increase diversity at Theurekauf and decrease overcrowding at Huff)

- Don't open a school in the Whisman-Slater neighborhood (why? not enough students to support it)

Weren't there two different demographic studies done which showed that there wouldn't be much growth in Mountain View?

Actually, no, this is a common misconception. This is the difference between the two demographic reports:

K-8 enrollment in 2020-21, according to the two reports:

October 2014 demographic study

"Low" projection (page 64): 4998

"Most Likely" projection (page 65): 5141

"High" projection (page 66): 5210

November 2015 demographic study

"Conservative" projection (page 33): 5251

"Moderate" projection (page 32): 5502

The 2015 study's Conservative projection is higher than the 2014 High projection. The 2015 Moderate projection is ~250 new students higher than the conservative estimate. The total increase of 292 is approximately equal to the current enrollment of Castro or Theuerkauf. These studies did not show the same thing.

Isn't Google using the Slater campus? Would this equate to displacing them?

The district has extended the Google lease at Slater for an additional 2 years and continues to strongly state they don't want to displace Google. Preliminary drawings showing a new school side by side with the existing school have been drafted. We would love to have a school side by side with the Google facility and foster collaboration between Google and a STEM elementary school. Similarly, the plans call to coexist with the Special Education center that currently operates on the Slater campus. To see the two preliminary drawings, go to page 48 and 49 using this link.

Isn't the German International School using the Whisman campus?

The district has extended the German school lease for the next 30 years, but has set aside their increased rent money as operational budget for our neighborhood school. It may still be feasible to construct a school adjacent to the existing school on the Whisman site; we've been discussing options with representatives of the German school to continue exploring that possibility. We love the idea of potential collaboration between schools so STEM kids could take a Mandarin or German class and GISSV or YCIS kids could learn a programming language.

Why are you pushing for a STEM school in this neighborhood?

An initial survey of parents indicated very strong support for a STEM school over a traditional neighborhood school. A STEM school has a better chance of drawing support from the tech companies in our midst as well as from some of the families who would otherwise send their kids to a private school. Not everyone in the neighborhood is onboard with the idea of a STEM school - please fill out the survey to ensure we are covering the sentiment in the neighborhood as accurately as possible.

Won't building another school in Mountain View put the other schools at risk? The facts show their aren't enough students to support 10 schools.

The number of school aged children in Mountain View is going up but the number in public school is going down. We have the kids - we just need to get more families bought into public school. With 30% of kids not in the public school system, there is a huge population of potential students - we only need a small portion of those. So - for the families who value a close neighborhood school with a diverse community, a STEM school may tip the balance and add them to the pool of public school families. We are working to gather data to support this claim. Please take our survey! If we can gather momentum and community support around a STEM school, we could start to undo the flight away from our public schools. This can benefit everyone in the MVWSD.