The Palo Alto High School Facilities Steering Committee is discussing the relocation of the portables before presentation to the Board of Education.
Thirteen portables currently located in the areas behind the Math and English buildings will be placed in two clusters on the quad. These proposed clusters will fill the space where Memorial Plaza is located, along the open grass area near the auto building. Three additional portables will be placed outside of the pool on the scoreboard side.
“The PTSA is reluctant to approve the relocation of the portables because the Memorial Plaza was recently installed for $27,000,” PTSA representative Anne Anderson said. “We are concerned about the possibility of student congestion. It would be great if there was another spot for them [the portables] on campus.”
In December, the school board delayed the portable relocation plans, explaining that the community needed time to talk about concerns regarding alternate plans, and the Memorial Plaza.
The committee has chosen a plan that emphasizes shortening the construction period on campus to a minimum. Paly will submit the new plans for approval again on Jan. 16 to the board . If they are denied, construction could be delayed for as long as one year.
Alternative places for the portables were also under consideration. The PTSA and committee offered solutions such as placing portables in front of the theater and by the auto shop facing the parking lot. However these were voted down by the committee and are not viable because they could possibly prolong construction by forcing Deems Lewis McKinley Architecture, the architectural firm in charge of the relocation, to submit a new set of plans. This would then disrupt the current timetable of construction and slow the process down.
“The PTSA would prefer a way to avoid putting portables on the quad,” Anderson said. “I have concerns about what impact all those portables in the center of campus will have on student life at Paly for the next three-plus years. First of all, I’m worried about the increased congestion that will result. It might be fine, but it might be really crazy for all those students to be changing classes all at once.”
Anderson also expressed the importance of open space to students.
“The Memorial Plaza was built for this very reason and I think it will be even more important to have spaces like this in the future,” Anderson said. “Believe it or not, some research studies show that it is very important for students in crowded schools to have even more ‘green space’ than they would normally require to help reduce stress. I think that’s probably true and we’re going to plan for these types of spaces in the new landscaping plan. But we still need them in the meantime while we’re under construction.”
However Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson is skeptical about the impact of relocating portables into the center of campus.
“The science building was in that location several years ago, so we think that it won’t impact student life that much.” Berkson said.
The committee also briefly covered the new multipurpose field and architectural plans for the media center and classroom building, as well as budget propositions.
“The plans are essentially the same,” Berkson said. “The changes to the plans were minor refinements, not big changes.”
Other services like parking could also be effected by construction. During the estimated two year construction period, an estimated 60 parking spaces in the Embarcadero parking lot are to be lost temporarily, according to Principal Jacqueline McEvoy.
“We might need more parking spaces in the future, because some spots are going to be taken out,” Berkson said.
The surge in underclassmen is also being taken into consideration. “The increase in underclassmen over the past few years might create a need for more parking spaces, because they will eventually become licensed drivers,” Berkson said.