Officials in the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District are huddling in an effort to find a solution to a controversy that has the football program and school neighbors on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage.

At issue is whether to install lights that would allow football games and other school activities to occur under those lights in the evening.

Right now, there are no lights at Mountain View High School’s Spartan Stadium and none at Los Altos High School’s Tom Burt field either. And so, the district is considering whether to install lights, but it’s not that simple, says Superintendent Dr. Jeff Harding.

“We recognize that our neighbors live in a quiet neighborhood and anything that we do to extend the time students have access to the stadium will have an impact on our neighbors,” Harding said.

Many neighbors are on record opposed to lights. One resident tells KRON4 that lights would mean traffic that calms down at dusk would be extended into the evening hours. 

Boosters say lights are long overdue and would be good for not just football, but soccer, lacrosse, and the marching band.

“We would have more students and parents participating as spectators,” Harding said. “I can speak confidently about that fact, but at the same time, we are sensitive to the neighbors’ interests so we have to balance those two competing interests,” Harding said.

Boosters say l.E.D. lights would be less intrusive. But the nearest neighbors will no doubt hear the P.A. system.

Stakeholders are encouraged to weigh in on whether to install lights at the only two high schools in Santa Clara County without them.

“We’ll continue to hear what neighbors have to say along with students and parents, collect all that information, and then ultimately, I’ll report back to the board with some guidelines,” Harding said.

That could take months, which means there will be no games under the lights for this season.

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