The opposition to this project keep referring it to a large scale expansion and that Castilleja wants bigger buildings. I challenge those folks to say that Castilleja's traffic and/or parking impact on the neighborhood right now is even measurable. Alcheck asked his colleagues. The school, which charges an annual tuition of $52,000, has 426 students and hopes to enroll 540 once the expansion is finished. If the project is approved, DuBois said it would be one of the densest private school expansions in the Bay Area. . Move the school out of one of the most expensive neighborhoods in CA and lower tuition. of our extraordinary faculty and staff, we are dedicated to Even more important than numbers was the message. I have participated in some of the S-CAP meetings. Endorse Castilleja School. Surely environmental science is part of the curriculum. "We take cars off the street, we save additional trees, we reduce our footprint, we exceed Palo Alto's sustainability goals and we educate more girls. Whats interesting is that when this goes to CC it will be reviewed by 5 council members who, in 2019, were part of a unanimous 7-0 vote to NOT build the promised downtown garage. Not moving the pool and keeping the parking lots as-is saves a whole lot of the changes the school is going through. Based on recent reviews by an independent consultant, the city determined that Castilleja has an existing gross floor area of 138,345 square feet. Advertising Info ", "There is no reason for the underground garage," Reed said. 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. 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. Be careful what you wish for neighbors!! Castilleja also has a lot of programs, or C, which are study blocks, or your elective, or grade meetings. Your support is vital to us continuing to bring you city government news. Rob Levitsky, who lives near Castilleja, sees the situation differently. "The other two members, Peter Baltay and Alex Lew, found themselves between the two camps, with Baltay suggesting that Castilleja should modify the buildings' cornice line and the middle portion of the building, as well add more variability to its window locations.With its split verdict, the board gave Castilleja a somewhat confusing message, which was made more so when Lew declined to articulate what exactly he wants the school to change (the middle of the building, he said, is a "little bit muddled"). It may be limited to public school teachers. "Castilleja, for its part, has consistently rejected the notion that it is looking to "expand." [3][4], Castilleja was founded in 1907 by Mary Ishbel Lockey. Enough is enough. Visitor Info, Send News Tips While emphasis is Staff's preferred design combines these underground spaces with 11 new at-grade spaces and 26 existing ones for a total of 89 spaces. "So this plan is quite appropriate for the sustainability and mobility not just for the school but for the city. 26 have spent my career in girls' education, and I am proud to carry on the legacy started by Mary Lockey. Sponsored content The average private school tuition in Palo Alto, CA is $29,717 for elementary schools (read more about average. 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. It's much more relevant to the Casti discussion than the long-winded speeches about how only Casti can end sexism, misogyny and discrimination when all those conditions have been and continue to be so blatant in Silicon Valley, Just follow the news for all the lawsuits and multi-million-dollar discrimination. In this article, Andie Reed states that she's most concerned about the enrollment proposal. With its split verdict, the board gave Castilleja a somewhat confusing message, which was made more so when Lew declined to articulate what exactly he wants the school to change (the middle of the building, he said, is a "little bit muddled"). Nanci Kauffman, head of Castilleja, said Monday that the school is prepared to reduce its proposed square footage in accordance with the council's direction, but said she hopes this "minor change . Why provide Castilleja. This makes no sense in my opinion. All rights reserved. They have revised their plans numerous times and the loud voices of only some of the neighbors are holding up the entire project. ", "It's doing something that is really powerful and I want to emphasize that," Thompson said. So, I asked ChatGPT to explain itself. A related question to massing of the Kellogg building is Why did the ARB reverse its decision of early this year to approve the Kellogg building design, when NO changes had been made to the design since then? "The 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." All rights reserved. Really? "It's ridiculous.". Castilleja School 5.00 (1 review) 1310 Bryant St Palo Alto, CA 94301 Tel: (650) 328-3160 www.castilleja.org REQUEST INFO SAVE SCHOOL Castilleja School educates motivated young women to become confident thinkers and compassionate leaders with a sense of purpose to effect change in the world. Because of the scale of the proposed development in an R1 zoned neighborhood, the project has experienced considerable opposition among neighboring residents. Well have to continue to deliberate.. Uploaded: Wed, Dec 1, 2021, 3:03 pm For Reed, the latest design tweaks fail to address the overarching issue the belief of many that the school is simply asking for too much when it comes to student growth. I think you misunderstand my above post. Redwood City Pulse, 2023 Palo Alto Online I have a lot of empathy for the commission members who volunteer their time to go through hundreds of pages of documents and sit through hours long meetings only to go through it all over again because of an inflexible, vocal minority. "Every year spent in process negotiation and compromise has resulted in scores of young women being shut out of joining the Castilleja community," Burch said. Because current floor area is significantly in excess of what's allowed when you tear down 5 buildings to be replaced by 1 building, that's why they need a Variance. The school's new plans include five garage designs, though only three comply with the council's request that underground parking make up no more than 50% of the total spaces on campus. Sign up for our. Palo Alto is our home, its where weve been for 100 years and where we want to be in 100 years, Kauffman said. TheSixFifty.com Tuition is for the highest grade offered and may have changed for the current school year. Palo Alto: Castilleja School expansion plan, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Alameda County DAs new policy will reduce prison sentences through widespread elimination of sentencing enhancements, Palo Alto: Castilleja School expansion plan held up by parking garage debate, Santa Rosa high school student stabbed to death in classroom, Exactly what I needed: Los Gatos teachers move into affordable units, Teacher at California high school arrested after recording devices found in restroom, California high school scheme used fake documents to get basketball players on team, report says, Stockton elementary school teacher arrested on charge of being intoxicated on campus. While Castilleja has been here longer than the houses and I do not think they need to relocate, I like Leland's comment about selling the land to a developer! The one at Kol Emeth has improved quality of life just as Castilleja wants to do. It is calculated using the reported number of students and full-time equivalent teachers. "We are saving more trees in the newest version and we're actually reducing our footprint," Kauffman said. One option they suggested was to find a temporary campus, although no location was now known. . Casti families are hardly impoverished; 75% come from wealthier communities than Palo Alto with more expensive housing -- Los Altos Hills, Woodside, Portola Valley, Atherton, etc. One commissioner, Michael Alcheck, suggested at the onset of the meeting that the city's concerns about the proposed garage may be overblown. Neither can be avoided 100%, but why add whats not really needed? OOPS! Special Pubs Going on record as accepting the lies and deceptions of Castilleja about their enrollment, which to this very day We are proud and humbled to bring together highly-motivated, intellectually curious young women from diverse backgrounds to collaborate within our community. lt's a lot to ask teachers to park a distance away from school and that they can only drive to campus three days a week. Because we have lived with the current CUP and how that has been complied with historically, it is a huge leap that just because it will be written that there will be no new trips, that will in fact happen. Despite all that, deep pockets, and an army of experts, repeated trips to the drawing board are not resulting in a viable expansion plan. If they were, this whole long mess could have been avoided. National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), top 20% of private schools in California for most sports offered, private school tuition across the country, Editorial: Veenker, Lauing, Lythcott-Haims for Palo Alto City Council (2022), Castilleja School claims Palo Alto's move to reduce proposed garage is illegal (2022), On the eve of graduation, high school seniors celebrate with a car parade (2021). 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.. ChatGPT is fascinating and alarming educational professionals. It's short-sighted, selfish, and embarrassing. of students and parents agree that clubs and organizations get the funding they need. PR MediaRelease Castilleja Head of School GUIDING THEMES Each year, Ms. KauffmanHA carefully selects a theme for the school year and distributes a sticker on opening day: Belonging 2019-20, Justice 2020-21,. Climate change. Based on student and parent reviews of clubs and activities. He and others suggested that Castilleja's project is being unfairly held up by a small but vocal group of opponents who are continuously moving the goal posts. Nanci Kauffman, Castilleja's head of school, assured both panels in recent meetings that the school has already made many compromises with neighbors and urged them to approve the project and allow the school to increase enrollment. My question is: WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF PALO ALTO? Average ACT composite score out of 36, as reported by Niche users from this school. and current research that affirm the significant personal and Castilleja is a member of the California Association of Independent Schools[2] and the National Coalition of Girls' Schools. But Mary Sylvester, co-founder of PNQLNow, argued at the architectural board meeting that the revised design particularly, the garage continues to clash with the surrounding context. Additionally, my group feels strongly about saving trees (Coastal Oak #89, where Melville meets Emerson, is a beauty and was in danger). Don't miss out on the discussion! How can there be "no new traffic" when they're increasing enrollment and the number of parking spaces and building a garage?? Tuition is $56,500 for the highest grade offered. When is enough enough ? I had an amazing experience in middle school at Casti. Speakers forget that for most of its existence Casti was a boarding school with some local day girls, and very low impact on the neighborhood. The school has been allowed to grow over the past many decades without going through the normal processes (some buildings were built pre-code, some built after code, but apparently not reviewed for GFA). March 1, 2023 at 6:20 p.m. St. Ignatius announced Lenny Vandermade as the team's head football coach via a press release on Wednesday. After graduation, 100% of students from this school go on to attend a 4-year college. Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic. True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. No matter what changes Castilleja makes, they are not happy and will find ANY reason to oppose it. 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