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Uploaded: Thursday, November 29, 2012, 9:50 AM
District seeks parents to help with new school
'Location advisory committee' will help evaluate sites for a 13th elementary school
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| The Palo Alto school district is seeking parent applicants for a committee to help determine a location for a new elementary school.
The Elementary School Site Location Advisory Committee will convene Jan. 14 and hold bi-weekly meetings on Mondays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., with a goal of finishing its work in late March.
The committee is charged with evaluating potential sites -- particularly Garland, at 780 N. California Ave. and Greendell at 4120 Middlefield Road -- for use as a neighborhood school or choice school, based on selection criteria specified by the Board of Education.
The committee will be composed of parents representing north, west and south regions of Palo Alto as well as district staff members. Interested parents are asked to submit an application by Dec. 10 to Ann Dunkin, the district's chief technology officer, at adunkin@pausd.org.
The selection process will be completed by Dec. 17.
Officials say the district will need both a 13th elementary school and a fourth middle school in the next few years, with the elementary school likely to open by fall 2017.
Palo Alto's enrollment has been on an upward trajectory for more than two decades after falling to a post-Baby Boom nadir of 7,500 in 1989.
Today, with headcount at 12,396, Palo Alto has 12 elementary schools, three middle schools and two high schools.
At its historic high of 15,000 in 1968, Palo Alto had 22 elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools.— Chris Kenrick Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by KP, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 1:58 pm This goes back to "Why are we building more housing?!"
This makes absolutely NO SENSE.
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Posted by herstory buff, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 29, 2012 at 4:24 pm What would a moratorium on housing achieve, other than to artificially inflate housing prices.
Fact is, more people work here than live here, can afford to live here, and want to cut down their commute. There are also many immigrants here, and they are having more than two children, sometimes four or five. That tends to fill up schools without an increase in housing. In addition, the echo boom of the baby boom are now having children. We need more housing, we need more schools. It is called growth.
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Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Nov 30, 2012 at 8:08 am Please do NOT alter school attendance boundaries in a nutty way; this means maintaining sensible routes such as the opportunity to walk down a street to the elementary school (a route that currently exists)rather than a bureaucratic re-setting involving a long trek, crossing a major street, to get to a newly opened school.
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Posted by Palo Alto Native, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Nov 30, 2012 at 8:38 am What's with the statement of immigrants having more than two children?! If it's Asian immigrants, the poster is clearly incorrect!
Ohlone should move to Greendell and Ohlone campus should become a neighborhood school. Greendell has a large parking lot for commuters. Garland would be a poor selection due to traffic from Jordan already. There is only one drop-off location for Garland (the front) so there will be traffic back-ups.
Or perhaps they should squash choice schools and make them all neighborhood schools. Choice schools were initiated when enrollment was down.
PAUSD definitely should not have to welcome EPA students anymore. When enrollment was down, it didn't matter, but we have no more room for non-residents to attend our schools.
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Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Nov 30, 2012 at 9:17 am Mandarin Immersion and Spanish Immersion should move to Greendell. Ohlone should stay as a choice school and be able to expand to fill the departure of the MI students (Ohlone has a long waiting list).
Greendell is the ideal site for a "commuter" school - which the choice schools are by definition.
Garland could be used to expand Jordan reducing or eliminating the need for another middle school. Put the 6th graders at Garland, 7th and 8th at Jordan.
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