Plans to build a new gym and pool at Mercy High School received a recent boost in the form of an anonymous $2 million matching gift from an anonymous donor, Head of School Natalie Brosnan said.
Mercy — an all-girls high school in Burlingame and a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, operating within Kohl Mansion — has already seen around $354,000 in donations after the matching gift was announced. It will need to collect around $3.1 million more to meet its $27 million goal to bring equitable athletic spaces to its female athletes and student body.
“In 94 years, we’ve never had a gym,” Brosnan said. “Young women deserve facilities just as much as co-ed and boys’ schools do.”
The good news for the project comes as the school prepares to defend the proposed gymnasium against an appeal to the October 2024 Burlingame Planning Commission decision that allowed it to move forward.
Some neighbors expressed consternation at that meeting around the new athletic facilities’ curfew, which they requested be capped at 8:30 p.m. The Planning Commission unanimously rejected that, voting in a curfew of 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday to Saturday.
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The athletic facilities would be in use until 10 p.m. only in situations when games had been delayed or sports teams made it to state tournaments, Brosnan said previously, and the school remains committed to working with the neighbors.
“I know there were some concerns that came up towards the end of that meeting regarding usage of the facility,” she said. “We want to work with the neighbors to hear their concerns continuously, to affirm that we want to use the gym for the school, and we want to go through the process.”
The facilities are a necessity to keep Mercy competitive with other private and public high schools in the area for a variety of reasons, Brosnan said, and continue to be a priority for the school.
“Currently, we don’t have one space on campus that our entire body can be in,” she said. “It’ll be a real home for our community and further increase school spirit.”
The appeal will be heard in front of the Burlingame City Council March 3.
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