We COWs believe in open pasture for all - whether they be bovine, equine, ovine or something else — all should be afforded the same rights and privileges and all legal pursuits of happiness should be equally supported by Town. That’s why when we herd that the Council has not permitted several bike riding fund raising events to pass through Town as well as opposing bike use on County trails, we were troubled.

We know about and have experienced the “noon ride” for ourselves and admit it’s aggravating and inconvenient. But then again you shouldn’t associate a small number of inconsiderate riders with the entire biking community. We have also had experience with very poor drivers pulling horse trailers, taking up more than their side of the road, blocking traffic etc. and we know on occasion horses have left their pastures and decided to take a walk or run down the middle of the street, creating quite a safety issue, but we wouldn’t think of trying rein in all horse activities because of these instances. So why is it most Council members and the Town Manager seem to be riding roughshod on just the cyclists in our community?

As we understand it, in several instances the Town Council did not follow the advice of the Town’s own Bicycle Committee and probably violated the California and United States Constitutions by refusing to allow the Hebrew Day School bike ride to pass through Woodside. Next they did the same with a fundraising ride to help ALS research. We’ve also heard some moos that the Town cancelled the Woodside Bicycle Committee June 14 meeting and that no one on the Committee knew anything about the cancellation. We hope the Town is not trying to silence a group that disagrees with it. If not, they certainly need to do a better job of explaining this cancellation since a lot of people believe it is just one more example of retaliation.

The Bike Community is outraged. Some folks are advocating a boycott of the Woodside High bike riding fundraiser and local retailers. While we are totally appalled by what happened, we blame the Town Council and not the good people who own or work at Bucks or Roberts Market, the Woodside Bakery or the gas station. We certainly cannot hold the school responsible for anything the Town does. We are concerned that charitable organizations already so under-funded especially this year with so much money going for Hurricane relief will not have enough income to continue their good works. And we can’t believe an event that supports our local High School could now be at risk!

California towns and cities are not allowed to prohibit or unduly restrict usage of public roads. As much as we all dislike traffic and occasionally have a problem with bike riders, they have the legal right to use our roads just as equestrians do.

We don’t want to shoot ourselves in the hoof — we are crazy about our horse friends and fully support the Day of the Horse but how come there is no problem with the Progressive Trail Ride which is part of the annual Woodside Day of the Horse Fair? Both horses and riders will be “fed and watered” at public as well as private facilities along the way. We don’t know how many riders there will be but the web site says that that the first 150 to pre-register and ride for stickers will get prizes. It will require the assistance of motorcycle police and patrol cars to help enforce vehicular speed limits on the roads involved, especially where horses are expected to be crossing busy streets. Mounted crossing guards will also assist participants and the ride could take as long as 3 hours all in town. So what makes this different than a bike ride for charity?

We certainly have the impression that the Council does not deny events recommended for approval by the Trails Committee or other horse involved events even though these cause additional traffic and parking.

Woodside should celebrate and equally support all of these citizen activities. If you feel strongly about these issues, please leave us a comment or email us at mavericks@citizensofwoodside.com. Also, we’ve put togther a page of how to get in touch with Town Council and Staff that you can see right here: http://www.citizensofwoodside.com/contact-town.

In an effort to raise funds for Woodside High School the, the WHS Foundation Endowment committee is organizing our First Annual Tour For Woodside on Sept. 23rd … Our goal is to gain the support of both the Citizens Of Woodside and the Cycling Community working together to better education…. Please visit our site for more information on the ride. http://www.tourforwoodside.com/
WHS Foundation site
http://www.woodsidehs.org/resources/found.htm

What is the Woodside High School Endowment?

The Woodside High School Endowment is a special fund dedicated to supporting ongoing programs that enrich the academic and teaching environment for students of all levels. These are programs with a proven track record that have lost their funding due to State and/or District budget cuts and which the WHS Foundation cannot guarantee to have adequate means from annual fund raising to support.

What kind of Programs does the WHS Endowment Support?

Students Offering Support (SOS)
Maintaining a healthy, supportive learning environment on campus is the main purpose of SOS. It includes: The Freshman Transition program which prepares 10-12th grade student leaders to provide all incoming students with introductory campus tours and year-round team building activities; Conflict Mediation, a peer-to-peer program that teaches peaceful ways to resolve interpersonal problems; KLEAR (need to know what acronym stands for), which teaches positive ways to deal with harassment issues; Youth Educators, on-campus and community outreach HIV/AIDS prevention and “Teens Against Tobacco Use” education

Literacy
The Woodside High School literary program has ambitious fluency and mainstreaming goals for all English Language Learners. Incoming freshman are tested and immediately placed into appropriate classes with tutoring aid in basic reading when necessary.

MESA/AVID
The AVID program (Advancement Via Independent Determination) supports students who have strong potential but need help in achieving that potential; who, for a variety of reasons (such as being the first in their families to attend college), are less likely to follow the college-preparatory path on their own. Through AVID, these students are helped to enroll in challenging curriculum, meet A-G requirements, become involved in school activities, and prepare effectively to attend 4-year universities.

MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Advancement) is an outreach program whose goal is to increase participation in activities and curricula that expose students to mathematics, engineering, and science, with an eye to increasing their rates of entry into related careers.

MESA/AVID students are from grades 9-12, and include Latinos, Filipinos, whites, Pacific Islanders, and African-Americans. The program has been extremely successful. Consistently, 95-100% of MESA/AVID graduates enroll in a 2-year or 4-year college.

Edusoft
Edusoft is a web-based student assessment platform used by schools, teachers and parents to track student performance. Edusoft tracks state-mandated tests, global benchmarks and classroom tests. It saves time by automatically grading tests to give districts and/or teachers data they need to improve classroom instruction and student performance and provides students with immediate results.

Enrichment
Since 1999, Woodside High School has been adding advanced placement classes to meet the increasing demand for courses that qualify for the University of California entrance approval. Courses in every discipline are available for students wishing to challenge their highest academic potential. We are proud to acknowledge the graduating class of 2006 had 8 Valedictorians who took advantage of several of these courses.

“There is no better investment of time or money than that in the life of a child. They are our future.”

In an effort to raise funds for Woodside High School the, the WHS Foundation Endowment committee is organizing our First Annual Tour For Woodside on Sept. 23rd … Our goal is to gain the support of both the Citizens Of Woodside and the Cycling Community working together to better education…. Please visit our site for more information on the ride. http://www.tourforwoodside.com/
WHS Foundation site
http://www.woodsidehs.org/resources/found.htm

What is the Woodside High School Endowment?

The Woodside High School Endowment is a special fund dedicated to supporting ongoing programs that enrich the academic and teaching environment for students of all levels. These are programs with a proven track record that have lost their funding due to State and/or District budget cuts and which the WHS Foundation cannot guarantee to have adequate means from annual fund raising to support.

What kind of Programs does the WHS Endowment Support?

Students Offering Support (SOS)
Maintaining a healthy, supportive learning environment on campus is the main purpose of SOS. It includes: The Freshman Transition program which prepares 10-12th grade student leaders to provide all incoming students with introductory campus tours and year-round team building activities; Conflict Mediation, a peer-to-peer program that teaches peaceful ways to resolve interpersonal problems; KLEAR (need to know what acronym stands for), which teaches positive ways to deal with harassment issues; Youth Educators, on-campus and community outreach HIV/AIDS prevention and “Teens Against Tobacco Use” education

Literacy
The Woodside High School literary program has ambitious fluency and mainstreaming goals for all English Language Learners. Incoming freshman are tested and immediately placed into appropriate classes with tutoring aid in basic reading when necessary.

MESA/AVID
The AVID program (Advancement Via Independent Determination) supports students who have strong potential but need help in achieving that potential; who, for a variety of reasons (such as being the first in their families to attend college), are less likely to follow the college-preparatory path on their own. Through AVID, these students are helped to enroll in challenging curriculum, meet A-G requirements, become involved in school activities, and prepare effectively to attend 4-year universities.

MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Advancement) is an outreach program whose goal is to increase participation in activities and curricula that expose students to mathematics, engineering, and science, with an eye to increasing their rates of entry into related careers.

MESA/AVID students are from grades 9-12, and include Latinos, Filipinos, whites, Pacific Islanders, and African-Americans. The program has been extremely successful. Consistently, 95-100% of MESA/AVID graduates enroll in a 2-year or 4-year college.

Edusoft
Edusoft is a web-based student assessment platform used by schools, teachers and parents to track student performance. Edusoft tracks state-mandated tests, global benchmarks and classroom tests. It saves time by automatically grading tests to give districts and/or teachers data they need to improve classroom instruction and student performance and provides students with immediate results.

Enrichment
Since 1999, Woodside High School has been adding advanced placement classes to meet the increasing demand for courses that qualify for the University of California entrance approval. Courses in every discipline are available for students wishing to challenge their highest academic potential. We are proud to acknowledge the graduating class of 2006 had 8 Valedictorians who took advantage of several of these courses.

“There is no better investment of time or money than that in the life of a child. They are our future.”