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Publication Date: Friday, February 15, 2002

School district office site to host employee day care

The Pleasanton school board voted unanimously Tuesday to put a new employee day care facility at the school district administration site at First Street and Bernal Avenue. The decision pleased many residents and parents near Alisal Elementary School, who had raised fierce objections to placing the center on Alisal grounds.

However, if the district site runs into snags with its environmental review or for other reasons, board members asked staff to quickly alert them, so that they might choose a fallback option, most likely at either Alisal or Donlon elementary schools.

The opening of the center has been pushed back from August 2002 to January 2003.

The board meeting room was filled and most people who spoke voiced opposition to the Alisal site, citing traffic concerns and the loss of playing field space at the school. Many also commented, as did board members, about the divisiveness and animosity expressed over the issue.

Mary Jo Carreon, an Alisal teacher who supported putting the center at that school, said she was "concerned about how the community solves problems." But she vowed to work to "repair damaged relationships" over the issue.

"In retrospect, the process could have been explained more clearly and we would not have put our staff out to be slaughtered, so to speak," said Trustee Juanita Haugen. "I hope we are all big enough to get beyond this."

School board president Pat Kernan said that the district was fortunate to have several options to choose from, but cautioned that in future decisions, the board may not have that luxury, yet would be ready to "face the difficult choices."

"We're all guilty of NIMBYism," Kernan said. "To continue to grow as a community we have to ask ourselves, 'Are we willing to give up individual things for the betterment of the whole?'"

At the district administration site, staff had previously considered locations on the upper sports fields or behind some district buildings on the north side of the property, both of which faced some obstacles. However, they now say that the property's southwest area near the Bernal and First intersection is the best place for it. Previously the area was not thought to be large enough to accommodate the center, but this initial review excluded the tennis courts there, which will be removed under the new plan to accommodate a new parking lot.

Although the city now has a long-term use permit for public access to the two courts, also used by Village High School, Transition Superintendent Bob Kroetch said the city appears to be willing to give this up. In return, city and district may make arrangements for public use of the two courts at the Pleasanton Middle School on Case Avenue, he said. In this case, the city might install lighting and other improvements as well as maintain the courts.

Because the entry to the day care parking lot of 20 spaces would destroy seven existing ones, the plan includes a larger parking lot of 40 spaces in back of the center. The additional parking would also serve to ease tight parking at the site.

The preliminary estimate for building the day care center at the district administration site is $735,000. The cost at Alisal would be $10,000 less, which includes a larger parking lot and a drop-off area. If these features are not included, the cost would fall to $652,000.

The district site cannot accommodate a drop-off area, and, for comparison purposes, the Donlon estimates excluded this as well. If placed next to Donlon's multi-purpose building, the center would cost $786,000. But if it were put on the other side of the field along Denker Drive, it jumps to $844,000 to cover necessary utility and street improvements.

The school board approved an agreement with the Tri-Valley YMCA to operate the day care facility two weeks ago, an arrangement that included $30,000 in annual rent to the school district. After covering maintenance and custodial costs, the remainder will go toward repaying the district for the construction outlay.

The school district has not yet decided how it will raise the money to build the center, nor how long it will take to fully reimburse the district for it. It could be financed through "certificates of participation," a low-interest capital financing method that the board is also considering to provide stop-gap funding for its planned high school expansions and Neal Elementary School infrastructure. This will be discussed at the next regular school board meeting on Feb. 26.