Come on, the teachers deserve better than that. What do YOU think is in this community's best interests? The Casti supporters who spoke about the benefits of having an all-girls education were addressing the value that Castilleja provides to the community. Castilleja School would see its floor area reduce to 128,687 square feet under its revised modernization plan at its Palo Alto campus. Castilleja is the only non-sectarian all-girls middle and high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. While emphasis is "We are saving more trees in the newest version and we're actually reducing our footprint," Kauffman said. of students agree that they feel safe at their school. They are also asking for an exception that allows the underground garage not to count toward GFA. It may be limited to public school teachers. Mobile site. Sponsored content Uploaded: Thu, Dec 9, 2021, 9:43 am I just wanted to mention, regarding goal posts, that although all the neighbors don't speak with one voice, because we sit in different positions vis a vis the school and don't have a PR machine, I would say neighbors wish the school would rebuild and modernize, but reconsider the massing. On Wednesday night, as Castilleja held its first hearing in front of the Planning and Transportation Commission on its new plan, the panel heard from more than 50 residents, who in some cases pooled their allotted time to make longer presentation. Because of its aggressive transportation-demand-management program, which includes shuttles, carpool programs and a requirement that staff drive no more than twice per week, Castilleja would also receive a 14% reduction in parking requirement from the cityThe planning commission, which had already reviewed and approved an earlier version of this plan, is expected to dive into the details of the current one at its upcoming meeting. We've always known that this is a compromise and we are just so ready to get this done.". 2023 Palo Alto Online. TheSixFifty.com Surely the large contingent of supporters of Castilleja could pitch in to help them find an alternate location for a temporary campus in existing buildings or in temporary mobile classrooms (ie as now planned on their athletic field) . A veteran teacher and administrator, Nanci has worked almost exclusively at all-girls schools. Kauffman said she worries that people are choosing not to hear the facts because of something that happened eight years ago.. Move the school out of one of the most expensive neighborhoods in CA and lower tuition. The City Council concurred with some of the arguments from the project's critics in March, when it reviewed Castilleja's plans and directed it to reduce its proposed underground garage a target for project opponents and to further refine the design of its buildings to make it more compatible with the residential areas that abut its campus at 1310 Bryant St. ", "It's doing something that is really powerful and I want to emphasize that," Thompson said. ""It's doing something that is really powerful and I want to emphasize that," Thompson said. I am one of the Casti supporters who stayed up way too late to speak at the meeting last night. If Casti supporters and parents really wanted to end the discrimination, sexism and misogyny their daughters -- and all women -- face here, they could eradicate it at the companies, law firms, vc firms etc. Place a Legal Notice An unfortunate case of "Who's on First." You must not be a neighbor. Castilleja was named one of the Bay Area's Best Private Schools by San Jose Magazine. PALO ALTO Castilleja School's proposed expansion, a sore subject among neighbors who have been fighting it for years, has hit another roadblock. Its ridiculous that this is even being considered. While this would require a 14% reduction in the parking requirement, Planning Director Jonathan Lait suggested in a report that staff would be amenable to adjusting the parking requirements, given Castilleja's suite of measures that discourage driving to school. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college. While Castilleja has maintained that it added the garage to its plans at the behest of neighbors who wanted cars off the street, Levitsky and other members of the neighborhood group suggested on Wednesday that the facility remains incompatible with the surrounding community. At peak demand, there would be a small shortage in parking (10 vehicles) that could be addressed through valet parking. Average SAT composite score out of 1600, as reported by Niche users from this school. Visitor Info, Send News Tips Yet another said the EIR did not fully address GHG emissions. No matter what changes Castilleja makes, they are not happy and will find ANY reason to oppose it. Castilleja's 6th through 12th grade program offers opportunities for girls across all grade levels to develop a keen sense of self and an unbridled zeal for exploration, innovation, and friendship. Even in its revised form, an underground garage has no business being in a residential neighborhood, critics of the project maintained. Promotions Quality of academic programs, teachers, and facilities, Availability of music, art, sports and other extracurricular activities, Castilleja School Photo #3 - Middle School English. "The TDM plan has been further enhanced and is expected to result in reduced parking demand.". Nanci Kauffman, head of school at Castilleja, said after the hearing that she is very grateful to all the supporters who came out to speak in favor of the school's proposal and to the. Isn't Palo Alto already funding and developing a teacher's housing project? The school has made compromises many of them and it begins to feel like (it) will never be enough.". [16], Castilleja is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools, the National Coalition of Girls' Schools, and the College Board. Were really digging to see how we could get to yes, but I fear the conclusion may be no. No one could answer the questions on managerial process. Kauffman said Castilleja has followed the citys process every step of the way and been working with staff for quite a long time. She said there appears to be a lack of trust between the council and staff and wondered whether this process would be a lot less challenging if there were more trust to the work that has been done.. "We have not compromised internally enough to give them a fair description of what they need to do," Baltay said. I'm pretty sure no neighbor that's not a parent has ever agreed with proposed enrollment increase. A shuttle would then bring them to the campus.While project critics, including members of the group PNQLNow, have advocated for such a program, the revised plans are unlikely to satisfy all their concerns. One option they suggested was to find a temporary campus, although no location was now known. If Churchill is closed, the situation will deteriorate. The city council landed on around 89 parking spaces required, which already exists on campus. On page 1 this report indicated Alternative 4, the Disbursed Circulation/ No Garage Alternative-would meet the Citys Municipal Code requirements providing 104 parking spaces, which is based on the number of teaching stations. Does Casti even pay PA taxes? "We are looking at a successful program that has every advantage to perform and every element was reviewed: bicycle, walking, transit, carpool, the outreach, the monitoring and the penalty aspects," Hughes said. Please include any comments on: The Harker School vs. Castilleja School Varsity Womens' Basketball. Because it is not. Special Pubs The overall expansion wouldnt be nearly as massive as other school redevelopments on the Peninsula, she added. Originally from New York, Nanci has lived in the Bay Area since 1997. "If they were to request a 10% enrollment increase, we'd be looking at about 450 students and there's there's sufficient parking on-site for 450. Community Calendar Because of its aggressive transportation-demand-management program, which includes shuttles, carpool programs and a requirement that staff drive no more than twice per week, Castilleja would also receive a 14% reduction in parking requirement from the city. This has taken way too long to resolve, and has cost the school way too much money. Castilleja School is a top rated, private, all-girls school located in PALO ALTO, CA. 23 Castilleja supporters far outnumbered the critics. Please come back!". Business relationships. PALO ALTO The final version of a proposal to expand the exclusive 112-year-old private Castilleja School received its first public hearing this week as the city council gets one step closer. But just to be clear, the plans proposeto move a pool to make room for one large building that replaces 5 older buildings, which takes away 60 currently existing surface parking spaces. Scott Adams faces 'consequence culture' as U.S. newspapers drop Dilbert, Tom Cruise's 'ditching' of Suri showcased by Judd Apatow's 'co-parenting' joke, ex-Scientology exec says. We explore the importance of teaching students how to attribute the work and ideas of others. "If Castilleja really wants 500 to 600 students, it's time to move or open another campus like so many others do.". All rights reserved. The neighbors asked for a garage. Embarcadero Media file photo by Magali Gauthier. Thanksfor the article on Castilleja'sexpansion. This project is worth fighting for. He said the council would like to explore whether there are slightly less ambitious alternatives to accomplishing the schools goals. It wasn't perfect, though. Get the latest local news and information sent straight to your inbox. Education | The fact remains that the footprint will be smaller than what it is now. Castilleja needs to modernize. A minus. Who is trustworthy in this process? The project encountered a similar division at the Architectural Review Board hearing on Dec. 2, which focused less on transportation and more on the design of the building. Sports Palo Alto backs e-bike ban on Baylands trails, Stanford sues Santa Clara County over tax exemptions for faculty residences, Hit-and-run driver kills man, crashes into five cars Sunday morning, Santa Clara County wants to put millions into child care, California homelessness: Where are the state's billions going? The three other members requested changes but had no consensus about what needs to be changed.Board member David Hirsch urged significant revisions to the layout of the project, including setting the building's further back and creating a drop-off and pick-up area for students on Kellogg Street. The school's bid to expand its enrollment and reconstruct its facilities has been moving through the city's approval process since 2016, when Castilleja applied for a new conditional-use permit that would allow it to gradually grow its student population from its current level of 426 to 540. Our teachers prioritize experiential and project-based learning that is engaging and relevant to girls. Despite Monday nights setback, Kauffman said she will continue fighting for a project that is on the right side of history. In response to DuBois comments, she said the school isnt going anywhere. ""There is no reason for the underground garage," Reed said. Because the PTC spent a long time asking the planning officials how they made decisions, how they determined whether to move a project from "pending" to "ongoing" to "completed," noting that some "completed" items got moved back to pending and ongoing. Castilleja has 75% of the students coming from outside of Palo Alto and I continue to be so confused as to why they cannot move somewhere where this is much more space for them to continue to expand. And what's the obligation of the parents and their hometowns? I fail to understand why Castilleja school advocates insist on keeping the location on a busy thoroughfare of Embarcadero when like other schools, they could relocate to another, safer location where they could expand. "Does it seem to you that this is going to bite us in the rear when we look at this project in the future and ask, 'Why did we make a big deal out of this minor difference in underground parking?'" I had an amazing experience in middle school at Casti. of students and parents agree that there are plenty of clubs and organizations for students to get involved in. If traffic increases, they will not be allowed to increase enrollment. In previous meetings, PNQL members have stated that they're fine with the enrollment increase as long as the garage isn't built. It has 416 students in grades 6-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1. And they sure haven't bothered to consider the impact of a possible Churchill Ave. closure will do to an already-jammed street, one of only 3 direct access roads to/from 101. That was then and a different garage, but in the interim the climate situation has only worsened. Castilleja also has a lot of programs, or C, which are study blocks, or your elective, or grade meetings. Castilleja is the only non-sectarian all-girls middle and high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. Santa Rosa high school student stabbed to death in classroom It is absolutely appropriate to block this expansion if it does nothing for community. Continuing to ask for more give-aways from the City after they've already been granted the 200 Melville Ave. street, Every single one of my classmates will become amazing women when they grow up, and Castilleja has been instrumental in developing our confidence, poise, ability to express ourselves, and compassion for others. When added to 26 surface spaces that currently exist and that would remain, Scheme E creates a total of 89 spaces. 6. Rob Levitsky, who lives near Castilleja, sees the situation differently. The Almanac It's not fair to put the risk of this not working out on the residents. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California hasn't followed: What should you do? Now back to the Casti specifics. Any proposal that has a garage entrance or exit on Bryant should be immediately discarded. Exactly what I needed: Los Gatos teachers move into affordable units These including new shuttle and bus routes, a bike-share program, a "guaranteed ride home" program for employees who don't drive but who need may need to leave the school for an emergency (they would be reimbursed for the cost of transportation) and a new Castilleja Lyft program that will provide free midday rides for faculty and staff, according to the plan that the school released last month. Annual Report 2019-2020. Many of the parking/traffic remediation plans are intended to reduce car use among staff, and these likely wouldn't be required if staff could actually find moderately priced housing nearby. Castelleja has not keep faith with this community by expanding their student body over many years in violation of the rules. and Dudeks 11/17/21 report on Castilleja School Building Survey and Gross Floor Area Assessment. 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