HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-03-17 City Schools Liaison Committee Summary MinutesMinutes
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BIG CREEK ELEMENTARY
Special Meeting
March 17, 2016
The City School Liaison Committee met in the Community Meeting Room at
this date at 8:05 A.M, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.
Present: City of Palo Alto
Tom DuBois, Council Member, Committee (Chair)
Cory Wolbach, Council Member (arrived at 8:10 am)
Khashayar “Cash” Alaee, City Manager’s Office
Palo Alto Unified School District
Terry Godfrey, Vice President
Camille Townsend, Board Member Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer
Absent: Melissa Baten Caswell
Oral Communications
None.
1. Approval of Minutes- February 18, 2016.
Terry Godfrey, School Board Member, after a cursory review moved to accept the minutes.
Chair DuBois seconded the Motion.
Ms. Godfrey noted with only two voting members available she suggested
holding the vote until Council Member Wolbach was present.
Chair DuBois agreed. He requested the Staff announce their names and
positions.
Kristen O’Kane, Assistant Director of Community Services, standing in for
Director Rob De Geus.
City/School Liaison Committee Minutes
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Stephanie Douglas, Superintendent of Recreation.
Katya Villalobos, Palo Alto Unified School District Adult School Principal and
Coordinator of the K-12 Summer School Program.
Jorge Quintana, Palo Alto Unified School District Communications Manager.
Khashayar Alaee, Senior Management Analyst.
Camille Townsend, School Board Member.
Cathy Mak, Palo Alto Unified School District, District Chief Business Officer.
2. Review of Recent City Council/PAUSD Board Meetings.
Chair DuBois announced there were not a large number of items that
impacted the School District. There was a positive Study Session on the
transportation management, approval of an amortized schedule for
Communications & Power Industries, Inc. (CPI).
Camille Townsend, School Board Member, was pleased that CPI was
discussed; there were neighborhoods with concerns.
Chair DuBois stated there were three tiers created of different levels of toxic
categories.
Council Member Wolbach said airplane noise had been an issue the Council
and Staff were working on, he was not certain if it affected the schools.
Chair DuBois noted the agreement to begin the designing process at
Cubberley had been signed.
Terry Godfrey, School Board Member,PAUSD held a discussion on budget
priority; the Governor’s budget cycle drove the Palo Alto Unified School
District (PAUSD). She announced that PAUSD was having more working
study sessions. Some of the budget discussions were around extending the
kinder program, class sizes, and the introduction of computer science
classes.
Chair DuBois asked what grades computer science classes would start.
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Ms. Godfrey said the computer science classes would be for grades 6
through 12. She returned to the topic of budget discussions and mentioned
construction at Addison School has been a part of the conversations as well.
Ms. Townsend asked if the discussion of dogs on Addison property had been
mentioned at this Committee.
Ms. Godfrey stated yes, that discussion was during the February meeting.
She noted one of the last agenda items was communication and how to
better communicate to the broader community.
Ms. Townsend felt it was important to note in 2017, the Spangenberg
Theatre was going under reconstruction while the new Performing Arts
Center at Palo Alto High School (PALY) will be open so there may be Gunn
events held there.
Council Member Wolbach asked about the timeline for Spangenberg Theatre
and how substantial the reconstruction was.
Katya Villalobos, Palo Alto Unified School District, stated the Central Building
Project was the name for the reconstruction of the Spangenberg Theatre
which was to become a two level building in the center of the campus
entrance.
Ms. Townsend mentioned the Student Wellness Center would be created on
the top tier of the building.
Ms. Godfrey explained the painting project at Gunn would provide color coordination and directional assistance. Students were able to have a voice
in the process.
Ms. Townsend noted during the budget season was a timewhen the PAUSD
selected new courses for the District.
Chair Dubois asked if there had been a decision made on language courses
available to the student body.
Ms. Godfrey stated no budget decisions were finalized until May.
Chair Dubois stated the initial Council discussion on transportation involved
whether or not there should be a local tax; the City was awaiting the final
decision from the County on their sales tax. The discussion encompassed
Palo Alto was one of the few cities without a Business License Tax; if one
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was approved during the election the funds could be filtered to
transportation matters.
Ms. Townsend clarified as in an increase to the shuttle service.
Chair DuBois stated yes.
Council Member Wolbach noted during one of the two Study Sessions on
transportation, Stanford Research Park representatives spoke on their
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) working group.
Ms. Townsend recommended reviewing and gathering data from the PAUSD
since they were one of the largest employers in the City.
Chair Dubois acknowledged Gunn High School was on Stanford land although
they were excluded from the data files. There were some web based application programs for carpooling that could assist the PAUSD staff in their
commute.
Council Member Wolbach added the Downtown Transportation Demand
Program could possibly expand in the future. At the present time its focus
was on reducing car trips going downtown.
3. Discussion of Residential Parking Program.
Terry Godfrey, School Board Member, stated School Board Member, Melissa
Baten Caswell had questions on where the Palo Alto Unified School District
(PAUSD) was in the City’s process.
Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer, explained the City was moving
into Phase Two in April. Addison School was the only school affected in
Phase One. The PAUSD purchased permits for Phase One and requested to
be granted a reduced rate for permits in Phase Two. The City had been in
discussions with the PAUSD to implement measures to reduce traffic;
although, schools were on a fixed bell schedule which eliminated flexibility.
The PAUSD has 17 schools but the program only affected one school which
applied pressure for those teachers which was why the PAUSD were
requesting an exemption.
Chair Dubois asked if Joshuah Mello, the Chief Transportation Official was
the contact.
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Jorge Quintana, Palo Alto Unified School District, was not certain if there was
a meeting; however, the PAUSD was looking for a liaison from the District to
work with Josh in order to best facilitate the next steps.
Ms. Mak appreciated the liaison role and wanted to remove the burden from the Addison principal.
Chair DuBois clarified there were two tiers to the parking permit program;
$450 and $100 annual per employee costs. Phase One cleared up issues in
the downtown area while Phase Two was more expansive. The City had
approved the lower fee to $100 for the PAUSD. He stated it might be
considered to designate a specific residential block near a school for
permitting teachers to park during school hours.
Camille Townsend, School Board Member, asked if Chair DuBois was saying
to designate a specific block for teacher parking.
Chair DuBois stated yes that was in discussion with no completion.
Ms. Mak said Addison School needed approximately 60 permits per day for
the year.
Chair DuBois asked who the permits would be for.
Ms. Mak clarified teachers, volunteers, and parents who help who may need
to be at the school longer than a few hours.
Council Member Wolbach asked how many of the specific permit requestors
were there on a given day.
Mr. Quintana stated the principal of Addison determined 40 permits were
requested. It was established the permits could be shared.
Council Member Wolbach suggested the program will have hang tags for the
employer and the staff would take a tag as they arrived and returned them
to the office when they were finished.
Chair DuBois noted the Ordinance was structured so that at the end of March
the process would begin and there were two neighborhoods who had
requested to be participants in the permit program.
Katya Villalobos, Palo Alto Unified School District, suggested the parking
issues in the Southgate Neighborhood may be due to construction. Over the
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past couple of years only seniors had parking permits. When the gates go up
for construction equipment access in the next few weeks, the Embarcadero
side will be tied up. The parking on the south side of the school; the
Churchill side, will be closed temporarily.
Chair DuBois acknowledged if the shutdown was temporary there may not
be cause for parking signs to be made and put up.
Ms. Villalobos stated there was enough parking for school and PAUSD staff
but it was more about the students.
Ms. Godfrey noted part of the issue may be caused due to the Southgate
streets being so narrow that when students walk off campus they block the
center of the street.
Chair DuBois wanted to be clear the permit process was initiated by residents in the Southgate Neighborhood.
Ms. Townsend mentioned Ms. Baten Caswell’s initial concern with the
construction was the impact on the parking. She anticipated working on a
plan between the entities where everyone was onboard working together.
Ms. Godfrey stated as the permit program rolled out there may be other
schools with issues.
Claudia Keith, Chief Communications Officer, had noticed over the past year
increased parking issues in the Southgate Neighborhood.
Ms. Godfrey noted currently the construction for Palo Alto High School
(PALY) was on the Embarcadero side but the next phase would be affecting
the Churchill side of the school.
Council Member Wolbach asked what the timeline was for completion.
Ms. Godfrey stated more than a year out.
Ms. Townsend asked where City employees parked.
Chair DuBois stated they were provided a permit to park in the City Hall
garage with an option to turn it in for a commuter pass.
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Khashayar Alaee, Senior Management Analyst, clarified as of now, the City
Staff received permits although the Council was in negotiations with each
labor group where the permit would be a topic for discussion.
Ms. Godfrey asked if City Staff had flex time or flex schedules.
Mr. Alaee said the schedule was based on the work unit. Some had the
ability to start later and leave later while others came in early and left early.
The majority of City Staff that assisted the public needed a standard work
schedule though.
Chair DuBois noted there were multiple City facilities where half of the
employees were at City Hall and half were out in the other facilities which
had their own parking lots or open streets.
Mr. Alaee stated yes, such as the Municipal Service Center (MSC), the Cubberley Community Center(s), the fire stations and water district. He was
uncertain of any exemption for the PAUSD before the April 1st
implementation. The District will pay $100 per permit and the number of
permits needed would be great. The City did quite a bit in investment for the
PAUSD in the areas of safety and traffic. In addition, there was a
commitment to work with the District but the City was working with all of
the employers in the City to assist with traffic.
Council Member Wolbach mentioned the traffic affected the quality of life for
the entire community not simply the employees.
Mr. Alaee requested to sit down with the proper person in the District to work on the Traffic Demand Management (TDM) Program. The goal would be
to work through some of the issues such as flexible schedules and teachers
needing to bring supplies.
Ms. Townsend stated if all of the government workers were receiving free
parking the District should too. She requested the parking permit be treated
the same as a government entity.
Ms. Godfrey acknowledged teachers and District staff did not have the
flexibility on time that other government Staff may.
Council Member Wolbach understood both entities assisted one another.
The schools were a large part of what made Palo Alto a great place. Traffic
was a problem for all involved. The goal was to provide superior alternatives
to Staff, the District and the community to reduce the traffic.
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Chair DuBois noted it was not only public entities that were experiencing
issues with traffic and parking. Castilleja School was expanding, thereby
creating more issues. Caution needed to be exercised in providing exemptions on public access ways. There was a law where certain classes
could be exempt such as corporations purchasing permits to park on public
streets.
4. Discussion of City and PAUSD Summer Programs.
Khashayar Alaee, Senior Management Analyst, announced there were two
presentations; the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and the
Community Services Department, so he combined them into one.
Katya Villalobos, Palo Alto Unified School District, presented the PAUSD
summer school programs. All programs begin June 13th, each level of the program changed for the satisfaction of the student and age. There were two
sessions for the summer programs at the elementary level. The summer
programs allowed for credit recovery and some apply to credit acceleration
in classes. Summer programs were to be held in 2016 at Escondido, Juana
Briones, Terman and JLS Schools. The standard concept for summer school
has been Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) now there was
Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art and Math (STREAM). The
High School summer program enrollment was the largest at 1,300 students;
therefore, there was a Principal and an Assistant Principal on site.
Chair DuBois asked the size for elementary enrollment.
Ms. Villalobos stated elementary and middle school enrollment was at 600
students each program.
Stephanie Douglas, Superintendent of Recreation, summer camps focused
on engagement providing experience. For 2016 there were 319 camps being
offered. There were 398 swimming lessons available. There were 6,169 kids
enrolled in the 2015 summer sessions.
Council Member Wolbach asked if there are duplications in enrollment.
Ms. Douglas stated she was uncertain but believed they were unduplicated.
Chair DuBois asked the number of Palo Alto residents versus non-Palo Alto.
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Kristen O’Kane, Assistant Director for Community Services, stated majority
were Palo Alto residents partly because residents received a lower rate per
class than non-residents.
Ms. Douglas estimated 70 percent because a number of the parents who
work in Palo Alto bring their children and sign them up for the programs.
New classes for the 2016 season included analytics robotics, society
skateboard camp, teen academy and Teen Week Out camps, and a wild life
camp. The highest demand in 2016 was for science camps; bay camp, camp
Oceana, kinetics camp, Foothills camp, kids love soccer, kinder science,
twisted preschool and zoo camp. The aquatics program was very popular so
next season there will be a need for 50 lifeguards.
Chair DuBois asked how the Community Services Department (CSD)
recruited lifeguards and camp counselors.
Ms. Douglas stated City Staff went to local schools and recruited and there
was a camp design for becoming a camp counselor.
Ms. Godfrey mentioned the camp counselor camp was in the Enjoy Catalog.
Chair DuBois asked if CSD had a solid connection with PAUSD to assist with
the advertising.
Ms. O’Kane stated the counselor in training program outreach was through
the teen program, e-Newsletters and the Enjoy Catalog.
Chair DuBois understood there was difficulty in finding lifeguards.
Ms. O’Kane stated yes, it was difficult. School demands provide difficulty as
well as a competitive wage with surrounding pools both public and private.
Camille Townsend, School Board Member, asked if the difficulty was during
the school year or summer as well.
Ms. O’Kane acknowledged both.
Ms. Douglas stated it was competitive with other programs paying more.
Each CSD Staff member had a connection to the District and the word
spreads via word of mouth. Teen Week Out camp was focused on older
teens (14-17). The library program focused on preventing learning loss over
the summer but also to develop the pleasure of reading. The youth library
staff goes to the District to promote their programs.
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Ms. Godfrey asked if the Teen Library Advisory Board was still viable.
Ms. Douglas stated there was a Teen Services Advisory Board but it was not specific to library. Transportation was a need every year for summer
programs. CSD was renting buses but they only held a small number of kids.
Omega was a small therapeutic camp for those with limited abilities.
Chair DuBois asked if CSD only used the JLS pool for their aquatics
programs or if there were others available.
Ms. Douglas noted the Rinconada pool was available.
Chair DuBois believed the Gunn pool was open to the public.
Ms. O’Kane stated at one point, yes, although she was uncertain as to its availability now.
Mr. Alaee stated Gunn had redone the pool and upon its completion the
logistics were no longer suitable for the uses of the CSD programs. He
mentioned Palo Alto High School (PALY) was close to Rinconada and the idea
of the aquatics program was to be geographically located; so the close
proximity was not feasible. Based on Mitchell Park’s proximity to JLS it was
easier to manage the programs with JLS.
Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer, announced in 2016 the pool
needed to close for maintenance at Gunn and because of the construction at
PALY, their pool was closed for the needed last two weeks of aquatics camps.
Ms. Godfrey asked how the waitlist/drop out management process worked.
Ms. Douglass stated there was a cancellation policy that prevented last
minute drop outs; although people did cancel in a timely manner and Staff
pulled from the waitlist.
Ms. Townsend asked if the Districts’ summer program had a drop out issues.
Ms. Villalobos stated yes, but there was a waiting list that staff fell back on.
Ms. Townsend asked if staff was lined up for the summer programs.
Ms. Villalobos stated yes.
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Chair DuBois asked if CSD asked parents for transportation because the
District relied heavily on them.
Ms. Douglas stated yes, although most parents worked.
Chair DuBois believed a large sect of the community was unaware the school
pools were open to the public.
Ms. Godfrey agreed.
Chair DuBois asked if summer school programs had been cut back but now
appears to be expanding.
Ms. Villalobos stated yes, the program scaled back four years ago.
Chair DuBois understood the District could not charge for classes but was
there a way for the City and PAUSD to work together to provide summer
vocational classes that would be a revenue generator.
Ms. Villalobos stated yes, but only because she ran the adult education
portion of the PAUSD.
Chair DuBois asked if there could be enrichment classes where a fee could
be charged located on the campus.
Ms. Mak confirmed, if the City was running the program or enrichment
classes, it would be possible to charge a fee.
Ms. Villalobos stated it would be a contract-vendor situation in that instance,
but they would have to find out if it is doable.
Ms. Mak again stated, if it is a City run program, they could charge for it.
She added the District would then rent the facility to the City for those type
of programs or classes.
Chair DuBois asked if there had been requests for that type of class or
service.
Ms. Villalobos said every so often an email or request would come through
inquiring as to why those types of classes were no longer available.
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Chair DuBois was focusing on the high school students to have more fun
classes rather than adult career classes.
Ms. Villalobos noted at the high school level the District was trying to expand or open up more enrichment classes.
Ms. Godfrey acknowledged some of the courses taken in the summer were
used as a breather for the students to alleviate stress during the school
year.
Chair DuBois asked if there were times the pools needed to be closed
because of a lack of life guards.
Ms. O’Kane stated yes. So CSD has been reaching out to the schools for
assistance and there have been postings on the job boards.
5. Discussion Regarding Shared Communications Between the City and
PAUSD.
Terry Godfrey, School Board Member, revealed communicating to teenagers
was difficult so the District had a Parent, Teacher Association (PTA) which
had a news list and e-newsletter that was provided to all 17 schools which
was sent out to all of the parents. The goal was for the parents to pass the
information on to the teens. enews@PaloAltopta.org
Camille Townsend, School Board Member, noted using the PTA channels is a
great opportunity to create relationships with certain individuals in the
District. She provided examples such as Mary Gyves, who works for both PALY and Gunn High School and teaches classes on career and work
experience. She added other valuable contacts include Christina Owen, who
works with the volunteer programs, and John who works with Christina on
her applied original research program. She described the applied original
research program and the benefits it provides to the participants. She said
she is willing to share these names with the City to assist in building up its
network with the District.
Chair DuBois asked for a discussion on City to school communications and
where there were gaps.
Claudia Keith, Chief Communications Officer, noted she and Jorge Quintana,
Palo Alto Unified School District Communications Manager were connected to
align discussions between the two organizations. The City has the Our Palo
Alto e-Newsletter that is distributed to approximately 7,000 community
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members. There is the Mayor’s Newsletter and departments throughout the
City had their own smaller newsletters that could be subscribed to.
Chair DuBois noticed the volunteer citizens groups normally focused on senior citizens or citizens without children, he felt there was a gap and
suggested focusing on parents for a better understanding.
Ms. Keith understood parents were busy although she believed involvement
from parents would broaden the knowledge base for the programs involving
kids. There was a Teen Services Subcommittee that focused on getting kids
their service hours for graduation as well as using it as a way to get
information out to them.
Ms. Godfrey mentioned the enews@PaloAltopta.org was developed by the
PTA Council (PTAC) organization. Susan Usman was a PTAC President and
she was very helpful and frequently when the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) was putting together an organization they asked the PTA to
spread the word. She felt a relationship between the PTAC and the City
would be very useful.
Chair DuBois clarified each school had a PTA and PTAC was the overall
Council for the individual PTA’s.
Ms. Godfrey stated yes, that was correct.
Chair DuBois asked if the PTAC communicated with the individual PTA’s.
Ms. Godfrey stated yes, that was correct.
Ms. Keith agreed a relationship with the PTAC would be a great place to
spread out to a vast network.
Ms. Godfrey mentioned although each PTA had a parent education system
the PTAC had parent education at a district level.
Kristen O’Kane, Assistant Director for Community Services, announced the
Counsel in Training Program was distributed through the e-Newsletter and
Counseling Service Programs through the schools.
Council Member Wolbach noted the City was piloting a series of Town Hall
meetings in various neighborhoods throughout the City. He felt it would be
worth mentioning throughout the PAUSD, PTAC, and the parents. The first
meeting had a good turnout of participants.
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Ms. Godfrey stated each School Board Member was a liaison to specific
schools and it would be a positive outreach for that School Board Member to
be notified if the Town Hall was to be held at one of their Liaison schools.
Ms. Townsend recalled in the past where the Council worked closely with the
PAUSD and she felt the current Council was committed to the same.
Council Member Wolbach mentioned the Human Relations Commission
hosting events highlighting aspects of the community and the Palo Alto
culture at the Mitchell Park Community Center.
Ms. Godfrey stated that was great and requested if Claudia and Jorge could
communicate those types of events to one another to share through the
different communities that would be helpful.
Council Member Wolbach noted the last items he wanted to mention was the
use of social media as an outreach. He asked how Claudia and Jorge felt
about social media as a means for communications.
Ms. Keith stated social media was a huge platform to communication in the
City. She was happy to add PAUSD information.
Ms. Godfrey asked if the applications that existed such as “Palo Alto 311”
and “Our Palo Alto” were considered communication vehicles.
Ms. Keith stated the “Our Palo Alto” application not as much although the
“Palo Alto 311” was considered the go to application for the community to notify the City of issues they see as they travel out and about. The “Palo Alto
311” could also be used as a tracking mechanism for follow-up.
Ms. Townsend was uncertain of the application content.
Ms. Keith explained the “Palo Alto 311” was where a pothole, use of a leaf
blower type complaints could be logged. A photo could be uploaded to show
what and where the issue was, the proper department was notified and once
the repair or issue was resolved the notifying party was notified.
Chair DuBois asked if there were channels to teens, a teen’s newsletter or
social media aimed specifically towards teens.
Ms. Keith clarified the City directly did not but at the CSD teen center had
implemented PAClick which was one program she new of.
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Jorge Quintana, Palo Alto Unified School District, stated engaging with
teenagers was a high priority. There were currently no District social media
geared towards the kids but they were moving in that direction. Being responsible for the safety of all of the kids there was a high alert on how to
approach such an idea.
Ms. Townsend noted there needed to be parent approval for anything the
kids would be participating on.
Chair DuBois mentioned the Bryant Street Garage Fund which was receiving
a lot of press lately.
Mr. Quintana stated the PAUSD staff was presently drafting a policy and
guidelines to be reviewed by the School Board soon.
Ms. Godfrey requested to be better prepared for crisis communications. She
was suggesting a closer relationship to be prepared for any type of situation.
Ms. Keith agreed there should be knowledge of the roles in each entity and
who should be responding to whom in what type of situation.
Chair DuBois mentioned there were school events that the community could
benefit from if they were aware; such as plays and fundraising events.
Ms. Godfrey felt the Walk and Roll Program would be a good event to spread
around.
Chair Dubois stated when the District formed volunteer committees it would
benefit the committee if one or two of the members were broader
community member.
Ms. Godfrey clarified there were press releases sent out when committees
were needed or being formed.
Chair DuBois suggested those types of press releases could be fed into the
City’s communications.
Ms. O’Kane mentioned the CSD Community Center had a Staff member with
specific duties to teen programs. There was a teen forum, which collected
contact information from teens as they applied for things, signed up for
things or simply repeatedly went to different events. Mitchell Park
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Community Center had a teen’s e-Newsletter which promoted all of the teen
events upcoming.
Ms. Godfrey believed different teen groups in the City had Facebook pages created for that specific group.
Mr. Quintana stated a tool the District was using often as of late was
webinars with the Superintendent which were available on the District
website.
Ms. Townsend asked who fed the Twitter account for the City.
Ms. Keith clarified her department and Staff.
6. Review Upcoming Calendar and Agendas.
Khashayar Alaee, Senior Management Analyst, stated the upcoming agenda
items included middle school athletics.
Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer, suggested checking with Rob de
Geus to verify he was ready to have the discussion in April.
Mr. Alaee said if Mr.de Geus was not available for discussion on the middle
school athletics, he asked what topic the Committee wished to pursue.
Chair DuBois mentioned transportation and parking which was partially
touched on during today’s meeting.
Mr. Alaee noted some of the items on the list were Cubberley, the
Comprehensive Plan, and communications.
Chair DuBois shared the tentative list from the February meeting as April
hosting the middle school athletics, transportation and parking and
Cubberley in June.
Terry Godfrey, School Board Member, asked if there was any reason to
discuss the Comprehensive Plan in April.
Chair DuBois noted it was in process and was not certain it would be ready
for a discussion. The communication process was one of the items on deck.
Council Member Wolbach asked if there could be more follow-up on the
transportation. He felt the discussion was opened during the meeting but
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was uncertain whether bringing Staff in in April would be useful. He felt it
would be beneficial to continue to topic on transportation and the Residential
Parking Program (RPP), bringing the PAUSD in o a broader discussion on the
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program; sharing thoughts on the shuttle.
Ms. Godfrey asked if there would be ample time for that size of a discussion.
Mr. Alaee felt if the District had selected a point person and the City’s
transportation Staff could attend it could be a viable and efficient meeting.
Chair DuBois stated the shuttle routes should be ready for discussion.
Council Member Wolbach said that was a large topic because the largest
users of the shuttle were the school kids.
Chair DuBois asked if the Bike Path Plan Update could be considered.
Council Member Wolbach felt between the shuttle, bike and continued
discussion on parking it would be a full meeting.
Camille Townsend, School Board Member, asked to broach the topic of a
Google or Facebook type bus transportation system. She asked if the City
had discussed the idea for transporting staff from other areas to work.
Council Member Wolbach stated the Downtown Transportation Demand
Management (TDM) and the Stanford Research Park Transportation Demand
Management groups were looking in ways to pool resources so collectively they had enough employees that running a long-range shuttle was feasible.
Chair DuBois clarified the Downtown TDM had a small area they served and
there were no discussions of expansion.
Mr. Alaee agreed those ideas would be great to have Staff available for to
broaden the discussion.
Chair DuBois wanted to hear middle school athletics in April but understood
it was reliant on Staff availability. If that item was removed then the
transportation items moved up; he requested an updated Bike Plan be
presented for a greater transportation discussion. He asked if the Committee
members had another topic to be on deck for the upcoming rolling three
month agenda.
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Ms. Godfrey mentioned the minutes from February had not been approved
yet.
Chair DuBois suggested the Comprehensive Plan and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) be on deck for June.
Ms. Townsend thought the topic of libraries was always a learning
experience. Both the City and District had massive libraries and to the
degree of how they interact was interesting to learn.
Chair DuBois wondered if the ballot discussion needed to be brought up. He
asked if the District had any election items.
Ms. Godfrey stated no.
Council Member Wolbach was good with the Comprehensive Plan being discussed in June.
Mr. Alaee understood the upcoming agenda list of topics as; middle school
athletics in April or May if Community Services Department (CSD) Staff was
ready which would coincide with the Transportation Bike Plan, and June
would be the Comprehensive Plan.
Ms. Townsend asked if there was a topic of the construction happening
throughout the City and the impact that may have on schools.
Ms. Godfrey stated no.
Chair DuBois expressed that being a good topic for discussion.
Ms. Townsend asked if the Committee was meeting in July.
Mr. Alaee stated Council break began just before the 4th of July therefore he
believed there would not be a meeting in July.
Chair DuBois asked to agendize school and Public Works construction
projects for May.
Mr. Alaee recommended inviting Development Services to discuss major
developments throughout the City.
Chair DuBois asked Staff to be sure the discussion included plans for
Embarcadero Road.
Minutes
Page | 19 March 17, 2016 City School Liaison Minutes
Mr. Alaee stated the title would be broad enough to encompass a wide array
of conversations.
Mr. Godfrey moved to approve the minutes.
Council Member Wolbach seconded the Motion.
MOTION: School Board Member Godfrey moved, seconded by Council
Member Wolbach to approve the February 18, 2016 minutes.
MOTION PASSED: 3-0, Board Member Baten Caswell absent
Adjournment: This meeting was adjourned at 10:10 A.M.