Planning & Design Meetings Facilities Steering Committee Meeting 6/3/2009 - MinutesPalo Alto HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
Palo Alto Unified School District 03 June 2009
P. 1
PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL
Palo Alto Unified School District
FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
DATE: 03 June 2009, 3:15pm-5:00pm
SUBJECT: Palo Alto HS Facilities Steering Committee
ATTENDEES: See attached sign-in sheet
The following are the highlights of the meeting:
1. Principal Jacquie McEvoy called the meeting to order. She announced that Michael
Najar will be replacing Ron Williamson’s seat on the committee, and that Hok Ky will
no longer be participating as a committee member. She introduced landscape
architect Derek McKee of Verde Design, Inc. Verde is the landscape architectural
firm hired by the District to design the El Camino field, baseball field, and home
bleacher replacement projects.
2. McKee presented two different options for the $1.65M home-bleacher replacement
project at the football stadium. The advantages and disadvantages of each option
were discussed, and the public audience had a chance to make comments and ask
questions. The Sustainability Committee prepared a statement in favor of
preserving the sycamore trees that may be impacted if the bleacher project goes
forward with either of the two options. The statement was read by Bob Golton:
“The row of sycamores benefits the campus. They provide shade and coolness,
they save energy, and they reduce pollution and noise. They also seem to
enhance the ambiance and telling of history on the campus. Please consider
this as you are forming your recommendation.”
The Facility Steering Committee did not decide on a recommendation for the
Board’s approval at this time.
3. Architect Erwin Lee greeted the committee, and gave updates of the planning and
design of the three current projects. The updates are as follows:
New Classroom Building
• Lee presented a site plan diagram that showed the location of the proposed new
classroom building. He gave a summary of what was discussed at the last
meeting, and explained that the social studies department, which will occupy the
first floor, requires a directly-adjacent resource room. The math department,
which will occupy the second floor, does not require this layout. He reiterated that
there are constraints of the site, such as the corporation yard and central plant
building that must remain.
• He presented three different layout schemes, and described key elements of
each, including classrooms with windows on opposing, exterior walls to let in
natural light and provide cross ventilation, solar tubes for day-lighting portions of
Palo Alto HS FACILITIES STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
Palo Alto Unified School District 03 June 2009
P. 2
the first floor, a hybrid of indoor and outdoor circulation, and a forecourt that
separates the new building from the existing library.
• In the last meeting, the math department expressed concerns that an additional
classroom may be needed if the upcoming A-G requirements go into effect. This
topic will be further discussed in the upcoming joint meeting with the math and
social studies departments on Monday, June 8.
Relocatable Classroom Buildings
• Lee presented site plan diagrams that showed the current and proposed
locations of the relocatable classroom buildings (relos) that will be used for
interim housing during construction of the various projects. 6 relos will be
installed in the quad at the lawn adjacent to the memorial bench area and the
main entrance to the existing library. Additionally, 3 relos will be installed
adjacent to the weight room with the backs facing the swimming pool.
• Relos P-1 through P-8 and CL-1 will be removed from their current locations to
make room for the construction of the new classroom building.
• These relos will be moved in the Summer or Fall of 2010. Other locations for
these relos were researched, but these locations are best for supervision.
• Principal McEvoy stated that the proposed locations are fine and that the site
committee is open to adding more relos if necessary in order to get more
construction under way. Specifically, the construction of the Media Arts Center
could begin sooner than later.
Media Arts Center
• There have been two Media Arts meetings to date. A meeting is scheduled for
Thursday, June 4th at 2:30 pm to discuss the proposed layout of the Media Arts
Center.
4. Stu Berman gave an update from the Theater planning sub-committee. Currently,
the Menlo-Atherton Theater is the state of the art model that is being researched.
The teachers in the theater arts department are in the process of assessing their
individual teaching needs and will be reporting back to the committee when they
have collaborated on that effort. Lee recommended that the sub-committee try out
various seat sizes to get a better feeling of the range in comfort, quality and price.
5. The following are the highlights of the comments and questions from the meeting:
Can construction access for the new classroom buildings project be gained through
the corpyard via Churchill?
o Tom Hodges explained that parked busses fill up the corpyard, which limits the
space that is necessary for construction equipment access.
When will work start on the Multi-Use Field?
o That project is currently scheduled to start in May of 2010.
END
Prepared by Dean Schmitz of Deems Lewis McKinley. Please advise if you feel that any of the above items
are inaccurate or need further clarification or detail.
cc: Attendees
File