Board Update

After a multi-year, exhaustive search for a cost-effective solution to help resolve our long standing facilities challenges, I am happy to announce on behalf of the Board that on Wednesday, December 11, the Los Altos School District (LASD) closed escrow on 11.65 acres of land in Mountain View to house a 9.65 acre school site and 2 acre park in an area in need of both.

This achievement is the result of years of community engagement. Through committees, task forces, emails to the Board and community meetings, our constituents made clear that purchasing a new school site was the best solution to resolve school site sharing, accommodate current and future student enrollment, as well as protect the top quality education we provide for our students. For more information on the history and process to acquire this new site, please visit our website.

We are pleased we were able to accomplish this goal with an incredibly cost-effective land acquisition in an area where land is scarce and expensive. This achievement would not have been possible without the City of Mountain View and we are grateful for their partnership as we continue to move ahead.

Through a unique collaboration with the City of Mountain View, the District will offset the purchase price of the property by over $127 million. A Transfer of Development Rights program will garner over $79 million in funds from local developers. In addition, park-in-lieu funds from the city towards the creation of a neighborhood park and other financial contributions from developers offset the sale price by an additional $48 million. With these contributions, LASD will pay less than $28 million for 9.65 acres of land: under $3 million per acre.

With the new site, LASD will construct a new school, provide recreational facilities and gain a neighborhood park in an area of our community that lacks these important amenities. As student enrollment in the northern portion of our District grows and the area continues to develop, thousands of homes are slated to come on line in the North of El Camino area over the next decade. This site will be critical to serving the growing student enrollment in the area.

The Board and I want to thank our community for its participation over the years as we are one step closer to resolving our longstanding facilities challenges. We also thank Randy Kenyon, our Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, and Jeffrey Baier, our Superintendent, and their teams for their tireless work to help us achieve this big win for our community. Obtaining the new school site provides us an alternative to site sharing, prepares us to accommodate future student enrollment in the northern portion of our District, and ensures we preserve our small school model that drives the academic excellence our community expects from our schools.

Sincerely,

Jessica Speiser, President

Los Altos School District Board of Trustees

Email: trustees@lasdschools.org
Website: www.lasdschools.org
Location: 201 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA, USA
Phone: 650-947-1150