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The Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees will be discussing and potentially approving a contract to begin the first phase of construction for a new transitional kindergarten building at Valley View Elementary School during a special board meeting Thursday.
The meeting comes more than a month after several parents and Valley View community members raised their concerns during the March 13 school board meeting about feeling like they were left out of the conversation when it came to the project design plans to relocate the school’s community garden.
“Project management is complex, but that does not excuse the district from leaving key stakeholders — parents, teachers and neighbors — uninformed, unheard and disregarded,” Emily Ho, a Valley View parent, said during the March 13 meeting.
She said, much like the other half dozen or so parents who spoke up that night, that she was frustrated with how the project has been managed so far and about the lack of opportunities for parents to submit input on the design of the project.
The expansion of transitional kindergarten space across all PUSD elementary schools was one of the main projects listed under the $395 million Measure I school bond program, which voters approved in 2022.
Since the bond’s approval, the district has been working on the project designs for all the schools. According to the meeting minutes for the Jan. 28 Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, which oversees the spending of bond dollars, the expansion projects at Fairlands and Donlon elementary schools were set to break ground in late February of this year.
Now, the board is getting set to approve a contract with S&H Construction, a contractor based in Fremont, for the construction of the first increment of the transitional kindergarten building project at Valley View.
The board was originally scheduled to discuss the item during its April 17 meeting, however staff asked to pull the discussion from that night’s agenda.
According to the April 24 staff report, the board had approved an architectural agreement for the project back in August 2024 and on Dec. 12, the trustees authorized an amendment to the contract to break up the project into two increments so students could retain access to playground space during construction.
“Increment 1 focuses on the playground and new Kids Club portables, allowing for an expedited submission to the Division of the State Architect (DSA) and subsequent approval, enabling construction to occur during the summer of 2025,” the staff report states. “Increment 2 will include the remaining components of the project, including construction of the new building.”
The first increment will specifically include the construction of a new playground and the installation of new playground equipment for both transitional kindergarten and regular kindergarten students. According to the report, it will also include “associated site preparation, infrastructure work required for Increment 2 (constructing the new building), relocating the existing Kids Club facility to accommodate the new construction, and installing a new restroom facility for improved accessibility and convenience.”
“Upon completion, the new Kids Club facility will be able to accommodate an additional 50 students,” according to staff.
The district’s facilities team reviewed all the construction bids and are recommending the board approve the contract with S&H with the goal of completing the project by the end of the summer. The report states that the project is estimated to cost approximately $2.46 million.
While the report also stated that the project design “underwent extensive collaborative review with the Valley View site committee and school staff,” in order to ensure the design aligned with educational goals, student safety, and community needs,” that was not what several parents thought was the case.
Brittany Hasselbrock, the current president of the Parent Teachers Association at Valley View, spoke during the board meeting in March about how the expansion project would impact the long beloved garden, which she said has been integral to the school’s community for decades.Â
According to a Dec. 10 Instagram post from the district, the school’s project design shows the garden will be relocated and “upgraded to the heart of the campus.”
“This new centralized spot will create a more accessible space for all grades, fostering stronger connection to nature,” the post stated. “Plus, it will make room for the new Kids Club buildings! We will also be adding a new TK/K Garden area. We have two options proposed.”
Hasselbrock expressed that she did not feel confident that the garden would be prioritized.
“I’ve raised my concerns about the fact that the garden seems to be an afterthought to the planning team at the district and while they assured me that it’s not, I quite frankly don’t believe it,” she said. “The proposed space for the garden has been changed multiple times and no plans I’ve seen have truly given me hope that the garden will be replaced.”
While the garden topic was not mentioned in the April 24 staff report, Trustee Mary Jo Carreon said back in March she wanted to have a community meeting in order to further discuss the project.
“What concerns me is that members of our community are not feeling like they’re heard … so at the very least I think we need to have a community meeting,” Carreon said. “We want them to feel heard, we want them to be part of the process.”
The board’s open-session meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday (April 24). Read the full agenda here.
In other business:
The board will be participating in a board workshop where the trustees will discuss what the district should do with the former district office site on the corner of Bernal Avenue and First Street.
The trustees will be specifically looking at four options — sell the property and buy other property that would generate revenue; maintain the property and construct up to 180 units of workforce housing across the site; sell property and build workforce housing at a different location; or sell a portion of the site and build workforce housing on what’s left.
Board members will weigh out the pros and cons of all the options available and consider things like revenue generation, cost of construction and feasibility. However, no formal decisions will be made at this time.
