Eighteen months ago we announced a plan to strengthen our school by increasing our enrollment from 315 to 414 students. The plan emerged from one of the core elements of Vision 2015, which charged us with determining the school’s optimal enrollment to provide the best possible educational program. Unlike our current enrollment cap of 315 students—which the school has had since 1984—414 is a number connected to an actual enrollment model. With the change, we can create consistency in our Lower School enrollment and strengthen our academic and co-curricular program in the Middle School.
Since our announcement, we have worked methodically and thoughtfully with the staff at the Town of Los Gatos to complete our application to modify our Conditional Use Permit (CUP). As we expected in the beginning, the main concern that has arisen from our neighbors is traffic. We have met on multiple occasions with our neighbors, worked closely with two traffic consultants to mitigate our traffic impact in the neighborhood, and piloted a series of traffic-related measures that have made a significant positive impact on our traffic impact in the neighborhood. As a community, people have responded to our call to walk, bike, carpool, or ride the shuttle to school. In fact, each morning we have averaged 110 students on our shuttle, 20–25 students walking or biking, and we have been well-under the car count cap of 165 cars exiting campus during our two peak periods (7:30–8:30 am and 2:30–3:45 pm).
As of today, we believe we are close to having our application deemed complete and we expect to be on the Town’s Planning Commission Agenda in November or soon thereafter. As we move into the next phase of this process, we are asking the members of our community for your support.
How can you help?
- Educate yourself about the proposal and the proactive steps we have taken to address our neighbor’s concerns. We have launched an updated webpage for both our own families and for the broader community to help educate people about our initiative. Please take the time to review it and to encourage other members of the Los Gatos community to visit it if they have questions.
- Continue to support our efforts to mitigate our traffic impact. Commit to traveling to and from school each day in one of these four ways: shuttle, carpool, bike, or walk.
- Share your support for our proposal with the Town of Los Gatos and the community. Questions about how to do this? Please reach out to me, Board Member Chuck Hammers, or Director of Communications Megan Stevens for ways you can connect with the community.
- Attend the Planning Commission meeting and subsequent public meetings to show your support and, if you are comfortable doing it, share your opinions publicly.
Hillbrook has been a vital part of the Los Gatos community for more than 75 years. Over 45 percent of our students live in Los Gatos and we are an active part of this community. Our children participate in local leagues and activities, our families work and shop in Los Gatos, and many of our families are philanthropic community leaders. A review of the historical data shows that we have decreased our car count in the past 10 years and that our new pilot programs this year have accelerated that process.
Unlike other schools in our neighborhood, we have lived for 28 years with an enrollment cap that prevents us from providing the strongest possible program for our students. We are asking for responsible growth, an opportunity to fully enroll our school, and the ability to provide the best possible program without asking for significant changes in our current car count restrictions. It is our desire to make this already great school even greater, and we thank you for your continued support as we move toward fulfilling our potential.