Charter Prep CEO Apologizes for 'Misleading Information'
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Thursday, February 4, 2016 VOLUME LIII, NUMBER 5 Your Local News Source Since 1963 SERVING DUBLIN, LIVERMORE, PLEASANTON, SUNOL Charter Prep CEO Apologizes For 'Misleading Information' By Ron McNicoll members of the Livermore-based hold up the high school's move-in converted office building at 3090 Under pressure from par- Tri-Valley Learning Corporation at 3090 Independence Drive. Independence Drive. ents and Livermore Mayor John (TVLC), which operates the char- Zukoski said that at the 11th (The Charter Prep currently is Marchand, the interim CEO of the ter prep, its Livermore K-8 school hour, the city was requiring TVLC housed in the Livermore school See Inside Section A corporation that operates Liver- counterpart, and two schools in to build two projects that were district's former Portola Avenue Section A is filled with more Valley Charter Preparatory Stockton. already agreed upon: a 110-space School.) information about arts, people, (LVCP) has apologized for giving The apologies were made via e- parking lot for the K-8 school and Zukoski's apology was read the mayor and parents "misleading mail by interim CEO John Zukoski a second left turn lane from North during his spot on the agenda for entertainment and special events. information" about a dispute con- after a TVLC board meeting on Canyons Parkway, designed to the update from the CEO. The re- There are education stories, a cerning the prep school's planned Jan. 28. reduce traffic backup in the busy port came after a closed session of variety of features, and the arts move to a new building. Zukoski apologized for telling morning rush hour. If the projects two hours and 45 minutes in which and entertainment and Further, the dispute has led to a parents and Charter Prep principal were not completed, the city would the board addressed three items, in- bulletin board. challenge by Charter Prep parents Eric Dillie in December that the not issue a building occupancy cluding an evaluation of the CEO. about the quality of the board city made a last-minute decision to permit for the Charter Prep in a (See CHARTER, page 5) Council Schools to Review Opening More Downtown Communication Development with Sacramento By Ron McNicoll Proposals The Pleasanton and Dublin School Districts are taking actions to establish direct communications The Livermore City Council with Sacramento concerning local will review development propos- school financing and other issues. als for 8.18 acres in the center of In Dublin, three school trustees the downtown over a two night visited Sacramento Jan. 27 to ask council meeting. the State Allocations Board (SAB) The Feb. 8 and 9 sessions to put the topic of frozen Level 3 begin at 7 p.m. in the city council fees on a future SAB agenda. chambers. Once on the agenda, Dublin The land encompasses the Schools Superintendent Stephen former "Lucky Center," as well as Hanke plans to address the SAB property adjacent to the Bankhead about allowing the districts to Theater. The city issued requests charge developer fees at the much for proposals (RFP) last Septem- higher Level 3. ber seeking ideas for a variety of Also communicating school uses including housing, retail, a needs, the Pleasanton school board hotel-conference center, and a plans to hold a series of four parking structure. meetings with Assemblymember The process will look at the six Photo - Doug Jorgensen Catharine Baker on specific dates highest-ranking proposals. Based Strong winds swept into the Bay Area on Sunday evening, as the National Weather Service said gusts between Feb. 11 and August 4. on Council direction, staff will up to 50 miles per hour were measured in the region. In the Springtown area of Livermore, trees and They also intend to meet with other also review a presentation from a property were damaged by the winds. Concern was raised by some that trees made fragile by drought legislators. local Ad Hoc Community Com- conditions were more vulnerable to damage. In Dublin's push regarding mittee headed by Bill Dunlop. legislation, Hanke and Mayor After considering presentations, David Haubert have been speak- the city council will select two ing out about SB50. The bill, finalists for both the hotel and the passed in 1998, created a statewide residential/commercial project. Process Begins for a School Bond Survey school bond of $9.2 billion. It The finalists include one hotel also changed the rules concerning developer, three residential only Pleasanton Unified School Dis- bond money it has available to adapted to the Common Core cur- developer fees, and introduced the proposals, and three that include trict trustees voted unanimously to meet needs of future growth. riculum, now in use in the schools. three levels of fees. both hotel and residential plans. have staff reach out to poll-takers Pleasanton ranks lowest of the Other projects would involve However, the SAB must declare All feature a parking garage. and come back with financial 18 school districts in the county in remodeling and updating estab- state bond funds insufficient for They include the following: quotes for a study on prospects of paying off costs of earlier bonding. lished faculties. Board president the statewide demand before Level • RSVP Investments proposes passing a local bond issue. However, $500 million in facilities Jamie Hintzke pointed out that 3 fees can be invoked. Although to build only a hotel. It would be The vote took place at the has been identified in a district Amador Valley High School can't current state bond funds can satisfy adjacent to the Bankhead Theater. board's Jan. 26 meeting. wish list drawn up by a commit- get all of its students into the gym only 1% of qualifying demand, the They plan an 80 room Hilton Pleasanton's last bond issue tee of school employees, students, for one program. A new gym or SAB has not declared that the fund- brand Curio boutique hotel with passed in 1997. Its proceeds have parents and other community some arrangement could change ing is insufficient, thereby freezing 2,000 sq. ft. of meeting/confer- helped to build and modernize members two years ago. that. a districts' ability to charge the ence space, a rooftop pool, and schools. Now, Pleasanton lags Some of that list would upgrade In drawing a financial com- higher fees. a full service bar with a limited behind other school districts in the facilities to provide more flexibil- parison to bonds in other districts, A new state bond, worth $9 bil- county with regard to how much (See DOWNTOWN, page 4) ity in classrooms that can be better (See BOND, page 9) (See SCHOOLS, page 2) Las Positas One of Fastest Growing Colleges Algae Raceway Paves Path from Las Positas College (LPC) in munity College Week, LPC was for the current year are also up by Lab to Real-World Applications Livermore ranked number 27 on listed as one of the top 50 fastest- about four percent for the semes- In a twist of geometry, an oval a recent list of the fastest-growing growing public two-year colleges ter," said LPC President Barry can make a line. The new algae community colleges in the country, with enrollments of 5,000 to 9,999 Russell, PhD. trending in the opposite direction between Fall 2013 and Fall 2014, raceway testing facility at San- Russell cites the explosive dia National Laboratories may be of many of the nation's community marking a 2.3% increase over the growth in the Tri-Valley region oval in shape, but it paves a direct colleges, which are seeing a slide previous year. LPC has a student and Tracy over the past decade path between laboratory research in enrollment due to a stronger body of approximately 8,500. as a major contributor to the rise and solving the demand for clean economy. "The enrollment numbers have in enrollment at LPC, as well as energy. In a survey conducted by CCW been steadily climbing for the other factors that make the col- As the nation and California Research and published in Com- past several years and projections (See LPC, page 2) adopt policies to promote clean transportation fuels, that path could help bring the promise of algae bio- fuels closer to reality. As one of the Sikhs Hope for Small Temple Outside fastest growing organisms on the planet, algae are an ideal source of Livermore Urban Growth Boundary biomass, but researchers have not yet found a cost-competitive way A bid by about 25 Sikh families The 10-acre parcel purchased by purchased. Some could be grown to use algae for fuels. to establish a center outside the the Sikhs, located on the northeast on the Sikh land. Occupancy “This facility helps bridge the Alameda County and Livermore corner of the intersection of In- capacity would be for about 75 gap from the lab to the real world Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB) terstate 580 and North Livermore people, the total of the current 20 by giving us an environmentally has been discussed by the East Avenue, would be subject to provi- or so families. controlled raceway that we can County Board of Zoning Adjust- sions in both. County staff prepared both monitor to test and fine tune dis- ment (BZA). Two Sikhs pooled their re- approval and denial resolutions. coveries,” said Ben Wu, Sandia’s The board met Jan. 28 and sources and bought the property in When asked by board member Jon The new algae raceway testing Biomass Science and Conversion voted 2-1 to continue the applica- 2013. There were chicken coops, Harvey which the staff would rec- facility at Sandia National Technology manager.