Suddenly, from being a reasonably quiet residential neighborhood, 75% of its students are commuting daily into the neighborhood and the school begins its continual expansion creep with an increasing number of disruptive evening and weekend events. Alcheck asked his colleagues. @midtownmadness: I call BS that this issue is due to Palo Alto housing problem. We were glad to see city council land on a 450 max enrollment to start, which most neighbors would support, and then entertain further requests down the road. Niche users from this school are most interested in the following colleges. remains true to its mission to give each young woman an "educated It has 416 students in grades 6-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1. Based on racial and economic diversity and survey responses on school culture and diversity from students and parents. Get daily headlines sent straight to your inbox in our Express newsletter. 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. real-world experiences, which develop in each student the skills The one at Kol Emeth has improved quality of life just as Castilleja wants to do. Not moving the pool and keeping the parking lots as-is saves a whole lot of the changes the school is going through. We explore the importance of teaching students how to attribute the work and ideas of others. Set aside the rhetoric and focus on the practical issues. Thats legal now. Just so sad that the City has really allowed this to drag on. PA didn't just become "one of the most expensive neighborhoods in CA" by accident, residents MADE IT THIS WAY through decades of artificially constraining housing supply in an incredibly job-rich (and therefore high housing demand) area. Other duties as assigned by either the Head of School, Head of Middle School, or Director of Athletics. The City Council, ARB & PTC members have had YEARS to consider the schools many proposals, each of which has sought to compromise in ways that responded to neighbors concerns. Time to read: about 5 minutes. Place a Legal Notice 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. But then again, the city council does like bending over for bad actors on the community, so maybe its on brand after all. 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. Rob Levitsky, who lives near Castilleja, sees the situation differently. 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? Andie Reed, one of the group's co-founders, noted that even the revised project includes elements that residents have consistently deemed to be problematic namely, an underground garage that many believe is incompatible with the neighborhood. of students and parents agree that clubs and organizations get the funding they need. Building an unnecessary underground garage that isn't needed, is a threat to the environment and sets a dangerous precedent for other neighborhoods. 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. [12], In 2007, Castilleja celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. 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? During C, you can go to teachers and ask for help, and they help you. This is not about education, it is about greed and hubris. The problem is not the neighbors. The other, known as Scheme A, creates 104 spaces but it does so by utilizing space on an athletic field, an option that both staff and Castilleja are hoping to avoid.If approved, the underground garage would have 24 fewer spaces than the structure that was previously proposed. TownSquare The overall expansion wouldnt be nearly as massive as other school redevelopments on the Peninsula, she added. The goalposts keep moving [portion removed.] 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. Become a Member At one point they even tried to have it classified as a basement. This is Andie Reed. "Castilleja, for its part, has consistently rejected the notion that it is looking to "expand." This option would be a gift to the greater neighborhood surrounding the school and to the health and safety of their students. 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. Print Edition/Archives She noted the new buildings would be set farther back from the street than existing ones and roof lines would be lower. Advertising Info Whether you are a prospective student, a current parent, a colleague, or an alum, this website is designed to provide you with the news and information you need to understand who we are. 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. "We just want to be educating girls," Kauffman said. 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. I also want to point out that there are underground garages in residential neighborhoods in Palo Alto. One option they suggested was to find a temporary campus, although no location was now known. [6][7] She was a charter member of Alpha Phi and was the first Stanford Alpha Phi elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Even in its revised form, an underground garage has no business being in a residential neighborhood, critics of the project maintained. Castilleja School's polarizing bid to rebuild its Bryant Street campus and construct an underground garage will return to the spotlight this week, when Palo Alto's two main land-use bodies start reviewing the school's plans.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. For me, the bottom line is education, accessible in our community, and respectful of the neighbors. Quality of academic programs, teachers, and facilities, Availability of music, art, sports and other extracurricular activities, Castilleja School Photo #3 - Middle School English. Because of the scale of the proposed development in an R1 zoned neighborhood, the project has experienced considerable opposition among neighboring residents. "The TDM plan has been further enhanced and is expected to result in reduced parking demand. Large parking structures are not environmentally friendly. Enough is enough. Blah. Sports Does Casti even pay PA taxes? 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. Here's the new, best answer. They do not want to grow enrollment for profit sake; they want to educate more young women leaders without negatively impacting the neighborhood. Castilleja School is a top rated, private, all-girls school located in PALO ALTO, CA. An unfortunate case of "Who's on First." The revised proposal includes five garage designs, though only three of them meet the council's March direction of the underground facility to include no more than 50% of the required on-site parking, which amounts to 52 spaces. Of course schools have to modernize. Since 2015, the 112-year-old private girls school in Old Palo Alto has been planning to rebuild its aging facilities and construct a parking structure beneath an old playing field on the six-acre campus. It would be great to somehow put both those issues to rest. 5. 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. "I feel this plan is better than ever because of all the feedback and iteration and response. 5,490 were here. I invite you to subdivide your lot and build a low income unit. Lee and Thompson, however, felt that the building is fine the way it is, having already gone through years of refinements and public hearings. It has 416 students in grades 6-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 7 to 1. That was then and a different garage, but in the interim the climate situation has only worsened. contributing global citizens. What do YOU think is in this community's best interests? Sorry, but further commenting on this topic has been closed. As such, it is "anticipated to have fewer impacts on protected trees and construction-related disturbances," according to a new report from the Department of Planning and Community Environment. If the project is approved, DuBois said it would be one of the densest private school expansions in the Bay Area. When is the application deadline for Castilleja School? Living on Embarcadero about 3 blocks from campus. Based on recent reviews by an independent consultant, the city determined that Castilleja has an existing gross floor area of 138,345 square feet. Tuition is $56,500 for the highest grade offered. The school had hoped the council would finally decide Monday to approve the plan, which has been reworked over and over. In response to Leland J.: Through coursework, arts, athletics, and an array of co-curricular experiences, Castilleja students become inquisitive and persevering learners. "It's often called an 'expansion,' but the footprint would be smaller.". More than 100 years since its founding, Castilleja This process has dragged on for ten years. [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. Castilleja School ranks among the top 20% of private schools in California for: Highest average SAT score, Highest average ACT score, Largest student body, Most sports offered, Oldest founding date and Largest endowments. Castilleja needs to modernize. No one could answer the questions on managerial process. The naysayers are hopelessly dug into their negative position, but in my opinion really don't have a leg to stand on. "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. The information contained in these 2 reports should cause the PTC to send Castillejas expansion plans back to the drawing board. It's an injustice to the school. It's not one blank wall. "We don't need a CO2-belching industrial concrete garage in our neighborhood," Levinsky told the commission. With the support 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. Not recognizing the impact to traffic, safety issues for bike boulevard, taking old trees out, and not even thinking about the impact of this project with the Churchill proposal. So, I asked ChatGPT to explain itself. They are also increasing underground square footage by adding an additional 36,000 square feet underground. [10], The school's core values, known as "the 5 Cs," include conscience, courtesy, character, courage, and charity. OOPS! Castilleja School offers 11 interscholastic sports: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball and Water Polo. "There are elements of the building that could be cut back and there's the space between that no longer needs access to the cellar," Hirsch said. Time and time again, Castilleja has revised their plans to meet the demands of the neighbors, yet the neighbors turn down every solution. courtesy, character, courage, and charity - which set the standard Niche requires Javascript to work correctly. HEAD OF SCHOOL. 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. "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. It also includes measures that require Castilleja to prove that its transportation measures are effective before it can gradually increase enrollment from the current level of 422 students to 540.But as two recent public hearings on the Castilleja project showed, these moves have done little to make Castilleja's project less polarizing. But with enough housing to reduce these insane prices (or at least slow increases), many more staff/students could live close enough to walk or bike, and there'd be far less need for parking (and fewer complaints about traffic)." Books & Uniforms (new or used): $650 - 1,100 If some people thought those speeches are unnecessary, they are probably against having the school in Palo Alto in general or else they don't understand the point of the school's proposed modernization. As such, it is "anticipated to have fewer impacts on protected trees and construction-related disturbances," according to a new report from the Department of Planning and Community Environment. Kauffman said she worries that people are choosing not to hear the facts because of something that happened eight years ago.. 6th to 12th Grade Tuition & Fees are $54,000. People that viewed Castilleja School also viewed these schools: The nearest high school to Castilleja School is, Fun athletic energetic school with good teachers. So far, planning staff is leaning toward what's known as "Scheme E," which combines a 52-space underground garage with 11 new at-grade parking spaces. You are complaining about construction for a year or two, but what about construction for affordable housing in your neighborhood with underground parking? Privacy Policy 6. If memory serves, that commissioner has a niece who attends Casti (she may have graduated by now) and a business relationship with the lawyer representing the school. Please come back!". "The TDM plan has been further enhanced and is expected to result in reduced parking demand.". This project has been under consideration SINCE 2016 - likely the longest project in Palo Alto history - because the demands keep shifting. Exactly what I needed: Los Gatos teachers move into affordable units The neighbors asked for a garage. Castilleja School would see its floor area reduce to 128,687 square feet under its revised modernization plan at its Palo Alto campus. It's not fair to put the risk of this not working out on the residents. If Casti were to apply today to locate in a residential neighborhood it wouldnt be permitted. In 2009, Castilleja was given the highest accreditation rating by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Very bad timing on this report. The mess resulting from the expansions will represent a major hit to the city's quality of life, particularly for the several thousand residents living in the neighborhoods closest to the school. Thank you Castilleja! Help sustain the local news you depend on. Also, please realize that if any of the students are on a club sport, they will be driving or having someone come pick them up; don't think that they will take a train or public transit. "We don't need a CO2-belching industrial concrete garage in our neighborhood," Levinsky told the commission. Sponsored content The surface parking would be created by shifting the school's swimming pool eastward, moving the pool stairs and eliminating the below-grade ramp that was intended for deliveries and trash pickup. Just a few important points: And here we go again. Neither can be avoided 100%, but why add whats not really needed? "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.". Here, however, the split occurred between the five board members, who were charged with further refining the building's faade. The two major points were a scaled down garage and a plan to manage traffic. We are proud and humbled to bring together highly-motivated, intellectually curious young women from diverse backgrounds to collaborate within our community. "I feel strongly that no modifications or adjustments are needed," Lee said.Thompson also suggested that the building, in its current iteration, "has a design intent. "It's ridiculous. 2023 Palo Alto Online. In both cases, the public hearings are intended to solicit early feedback and will not include any formal action.Among the biggest differences between Castilleja's prior plan and its current one is the size of the proposed underground garage. Sign up for our. Science evolves. ""We have not compromised internally enough to give them a fair description of what they need to do," Baltay said.Both the architectural board and the planning commission plan to hold further meetings on the proposal before it goes back to the council next year for another hearing. Casti is a bubble that feels very, very wealthy, and very liberal. Endorse Castilleja School. He is a Venezuelan-American raised in Texas with bylines in the Champaign, Ill. News-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Dallas Morning News. 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) . The fact remains that the footprint will be smaller than what it is now. Let Castilleja move to a new location like most of the other private schools have done - Keys, Pinewood, Harker are just a few. HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Castilleja Community, This summer, I reignited my fascination with a remarkable womanEleanor Roosevelta true woman learning, woman leading. There aren't many Black students, which my Black friends said harmed their experience. Thanksfor the article on Castilleja'sexpansion. Web Link Castilleja School is ranked as one of the top 20% of private schools in California for most sports offered. IRS delays tax deadline for Bay Area, but California hasn't followed: What should you do? As has been pointed out, the plans have been reviewed by numerous City bodies (ARB, PTC, Planning Department, City Council). Global Investigator trip for all 11th graders. I remember the theoretical discussion about "if enrollment was increased to 1000 and there were no impacts or increase in traffic, would that be OK?" I feel this plan is better than ever because of all the feedback and iteration and response problem! To your inbox in our Express newsletter, Castilleja this process has dragged on for years! In its revised modernization plan At its Palo Alto a bubble that feels very very... Young women from diverse backgrounds to collaborate within our community, and charity - which set standard... Situation differently and humbled to bring together highly-motivated, intellectually curious young from! Tuition is $ 56,500 for the highest grade offered parents agree that clubs and organizations get the they... 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