June 11, 2004

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Publication Date: Friday, June 11, 2004

Guest Opinion

There has been news coverage of late regarding the Pleasanton Unified School District's attempt to build Joshua Neal Elementary School and the district's legal battles with Signature Properties and Standard Pacific. At this time, the Board of Trustees would like to provide a few facts regarding the project. 1. It was Signature Properties and Standard Pacific that filed the lawsuit at the outset. We have tried and continue to try to sit down with Signature Properties and Standard Pacific to resolve the situation. In fact, the District has requested on multiple occasions to sit down with Signature Properties and Standard Pacific to come to a resolution, and on each occasion representatives from Signature Properties refused. The first request occurred when Signature initially filed the lawsuit. 2. Before entering into the Amended Cooperative Fee Agreement, all parties met together to come up with points of agreement that would be contained in the final legal document. The "Points of Agreement" document, signed by all parties including Mr. Jim Ghielmetti on Jan. 25, 2001, states in its first paragragh, "If the $8.5 million cost is exceeded for any reason other than changes requested by the District following the issuance of the contract for construction, the Cooperative Fee Developers will be responsible for that additional cost, without expectation of reimbursement from District for that additional cost." Once this agreement was reached, it was put into a legal document, the Amended Cooperative Fee Agreement, which was worked on and reviewed by attorneys for all parties involved, and the terms did not change. 3. At the June 5, 2001, regular meeting of the school board, which was televised, the District's attorney clearly presented this "capped" cost agreement, and Mr. Ghielmetti was present. The tape of the meeting is available for public viewing. 4. The Amended Cooperative Fee Agreement replaced the original Cooperative Fee Agreement that was signed in 1992. The original agreement guaranteed that the developer would cover any school district capital facilities financial shortfall in exchange for paying a lower fee than the other developers in Pleasanton. When the District declared a shortfall and asked for the money, it was the developers' idea to reach a new agreement, the Amended Cooperative Fee Agreement. 5. The fraud and deceit complaint was filed by the District only after Signature Properties filed legal arguments that the Amended Cooperative Fee Agreement, which they had signed in 2001, was invalid and that Signature had no legal obligations under the Amended Agreement. 6. If Signature Properties and their clients had paid the same level of developer fees as the other developers within the community, they would have paid an additional amount totaling nearly $5 million. 7. Attorney fees associated with the lawsuit have been paid by the District's Joint Powers Pool and from the District's Capital Facilities Fund, which supports school construction projects. The cost of the suit is not impacting general services to students. 8. The District has taken out over $15 million in loans in order to keep planned construction projects, including Neal Elementary School, on track, and District staff is currently working with the city of Pleasanton staff to find a way to construct Neal School without the promised help of Signature Properties. The 1992 Cooperative Fee Agreement and the 2001 Amended Cooperative Fee Agreement were developed to keep the District out of these kinds of situations and to ensure that schools would be ready for Pleasanton students. 9. The School Board and District staff continue to be committed to building Neal School at the Vineyard Avenue site.

In an effort to eliminate rumors and any animosity throughout the community, we invite any questions or comments. Please feel free to contact the district office or any one of us individually to discuss these matters further.
-Dr. John Casey and members of the school board can be reached through the main Pleasanton Unified School District switchboard at 462-5500 or in writing at: Pleasanton Unified School District, 4665 Bernal Ave., Pleasanton, CA 94566.

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