Plans for Menlo Park high school moving forward: Sequoia board supports project in face of transportation, safety issues raised by city

Menlo Park city officials had expressed concerns regarding the potential for the campus to worsen traffic in an area already rife with parking and congestion problems and also raised issues regarding student safety.

Board President Alan Sarver said he believed the potential points of contention are addressed in the district’s project planning documents and supported pushing ahead expediently with the school’s development.

“There is a strong sense on the board this is an excellent project that needs to proceed in a timely manner,” he said.

As the proposal goes forward, Sarver said school officials plan to work alongside Menlo Park officials who had claimed the surrounding industrial business district was inadequate to neighbor a school campus.

Menlo Park City Manager Alex McIntyre, along with nearby business owners, authored letters claiming a school would worsen traffic congestion in the area east of Highway 101.

Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman sent a letter claiming the existing traffic congestion could also prevent first responders from easily accessing the campus in the case of an emergency and that the adjacent businesses often operating with dangerous chemicals may pose threats to students, among a variety of other concerns.

The area east of Highway 101 is not zoned for schools and was never intended to accommodate students, said Schapelhouman as part of his opposition to the proposed location.

“The school district can do whatever it wants, but that doesn’t make it a good idea,” he said.

Sarver though said the Bayshore area is slated to take on a variety of renovations, including a sizable Facebook development and a new hotel, indicating the neighborhood is sufficiently safe and due for a major overhaul in the coming years.

In all, Sarver indicated he was prepared for the project to proceed toward receiving necessary approval for construction from state officials.

“It’s an exciting time for this school, for this project and for the district,” he said, during the most recent meeting. “We need to go out and build it.”

Much of the conversation at the meeting circulated around curriculum and educational design of the school slated to focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The school has received grants to from the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization belonging to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and established relationships with the San Mateo County Community College District as well as local technology businesses to further develop the educational model.

The school will be built around a linked learning model, in which students are granted opportunities to receive real world lessons honing their skills to be competitive in higher education and ultimately their career of choice.

Though progress is being made in developing the design of the campus as well as the educational model, officials must move quickly to ensure the school is ready for students by the fall 2018 expected opening date, said district Chief Facilities Officer Matthew Zito.

“It’s going to be a great facility, but it will be a challenge to meet an aggressive timeline,” he said.

With the opening date creeping closer, district officials will begin reaching out to local elementary school students to identify who may be interested in joining the inaugural class, said Superintendent James Lianides.

As part of the student selection process, Lianides said he favored selecting a name reflecting the innovative educational vision of the school, but urged officials to move quickly as the community outreach should begin soon.

“It’s very hard to market a school with no name, but I think we need an abbreviated process,” he said.

The district will work with consultant Seth Rosenblatt to receive community feedback on the name for the school, in hopes of picking a candidate by December, said Lianides.

“We want to get rolling with this,” he said.

In other news during the meeting, the board opted to slow down the process of moving to even-year elections, in favor of receiving more input.

The board held a public hearing during the most recent meeting on the proposed shift, mandated by a new state law to ramp up public participation in local elections, but no one from the community participated in the discussion.

Trustee Georgia Jack said she believed a more thorough outreach process was necessary to ensure community members were aware of the board considering extending terms by one year to align with the state election calendar.

“We are being thoughtful about the approach we are taking,” she said.

Officials are also in the midst of moving from at-large elections to a by-district system, in which board members are selected according to the area they represent.

The board had initially intended to take on both election shifts simultaneously but, under the decision at the most recent meeting, Lianides suggested officials take the state calendar alignment up in March.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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