Vol. XXXV, Number 21 N February 28, 2014 City looks to scrap Cubberley boon Page 5 www.PaloAltoOnline.com SEE THIS YEAR’S WINNERS INSIDE page 20 INSIDE Palo Alto Adult School Class Guide Pulse 16 Spectrum 18 Eating Out 27 Movies 29 Puzzles 55 NArts A conversation with novelist Jonathan Franzen Page 25 NHome Green Acres: Quiet, friendly and close to schools Page 32 NSports Gunn wrestler eyes a state championship Page 57 Trust Your Face to a Specialist We’re expanding and relocating! Join us at our new Palo Alto location. Now offering CoolSculpting. 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Local Knowledge • National Exposure • Global Reach Page 4ÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊÓn]ÊÓä£{ÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*>Ì"i°V UpfrontLocal news, information and analysis District searches for new superintendent School board president to invite search firms to make er way than we could in just doing their competitors’ presentations. Board members, as well as Palo presentations in March advertising,” board Vice President The board will ask the firms how Alto Council of PTAs President Melissa Baten Caswell said. they identify potential applicants Sigrid Pinsky, stressed the need by Chris Kenrick Since presentations by each and whether they have unusual ap- for a transparent search process pening a search to replace ing since the at-times embattled firm typically take at least an proaches for ensuring an adequate that solicits a wide range of com- Palo Alto Superintendent Skelly announced on Feb. 18 that hour, board members also agreed pool of good candidates. munity opinion. O Kevin Skelly, school board he plans to step down June 30. not to make them part of the regu- Other questions on a list culled The board will ask search firms President Barb Mitchell said Tues- Members agreed they wanted to lar March 11 board meeting but to from the district’s most recent what they would do to ensure day she would invite three or four engage a search firm rather than find a date for a special meeting, superintendent search in 2007 adequate participation from the search firms to make public presen- conduct a search themselves and preferably around the same time. include “How would you tailor community. tations to the board next month. said they preferred to interview mul- Though the meeting will be your search for the needs of Palo Among the firms that board Mitchell polled colleagues on tiple firms before settling on one. open to the public, board mem- Alto?” and “What do you see as members said they hope to inter- their search preferences Tuesday at “Professional search firms have bers said competing search firms the biggest challenge for us in fill- the first Board of Education meet- the ability to go out in a much wid- should not be in the room during ing our superintendent position?” ­VÌÕi`ÊÊ«>}iÊ£Ó® LAND USE Palo Alto looks to scrap Cubberley covenant City Council unanimously supports eliminating 1989 provision that requires annual payments to school district by Gennady Sheyner alo Alto officials on Mon- the local campus of Foothill Col- day took a firm stance lege. P against a two-decade-old School and city officials are provision in the city’s lease of now working on a new lease. A Cubberley Community Center, a 2013 report from a broad com- covenant that requires the city to mittee of community stakehold- pay the school district $1.8 mil- ers recommended development 6iÀV>Ê7iLiÀ lion annually in exchange for the of a vision in which Cubberley school district’s promise not to would be shared by the city and sell some of its property in the school district and an assessment city. School officials are loath to to determine the best long-term give up the revenue, however, and uses for the sprawling center on Savoring the rain, while it lasts negotiations over a new lease are Middlefield Road. Walkers, some armed with umbrellas, cross University Avenue at Ramona Street on Wednesday heading into the final stretch as But as Keene noted on Monday, evening. More rain is expected over the weekend. the current lease nears its expira- the covenant remains a subject of tion date at the end of this year. disagreement between him and The covenant not to develop his counterpart on the school side, was adopted in 1989 with the Superintendent Kevin Skelly. HEALTH idea of giving the cash-strapped “The superintendent and I have school district a much-needed been exploring different ideas injection of funds while keeping and options, but I think we’re re- the district from selling off five ally reaching a sticking point as it Rare, polio-like virus striking school sites. With the district no relates to continuance of the cov- longer suffering from plummeting enant not to develop in the lease,” Bay Area children enrollment and sagging revenues Keene said. and with all five sites now in use From the council’s perspective, Doctors discuss cases at press conference, stress rarity of the disease (Jordan and JLS middle schools the issue is simple: Conditions that and the Ohlone, Garland and made the covenant useful no lon- by Sue Dremann Greendell campuses), the City ger apply. Accordingly, it should polio-like illness has strick- Waubant, professor of neurology is unusual, Van Haren said. Council agreed on Monday with be scrapped. That was also the en 25 children in California, at the University of California at Other enteroviruses can cause City Manager James Keene’s as- recommendation of the commu- A Lucile Packard Children’s San Francisco, are researching similar symptoms. Another strain, sessment that the circumstances nity advisory committee, which Hospital officials announced the cases and have found a vi- enterovirus-71, has been implicat- prompting the covenant no longer voted 18-0 to remove the covenant Monday at a press conference. rus, enterovirus-68, in the nasal ed in similar cases of acute flac- exist and therefore it should be from the new agreement. Patients suffering from the dis- swabs of two, but that sample is cid paralysis in southeast Asia and eliminated. “I see no public-policy reason ease quickly and permanently too small to draw conclusions, Australia, but that strain is not The covenant was part of a why anyone would expressly become paralyzed in one or more Waubant said. Enterovirus-68 is known here, Van Haren said. broader agreement between the agree to do something for which legs or arms. Some patients have in the same family as the polio The enterovirus-68 cases, which city and the school district, which they’re no longer receiving the in- respiratory symptoms before the virus. began in September 2012, have allows the city to lease from the tended benefit or result,” Keene paralysis begins, said Dr. Keith The polio vaccine does not pro- ranged from Monterey County school district 27 acres in the said Monday. Van Haren, a pediatric neurolo- tect against enterovirus-68, and to the North Bay, with others in 35-acre south Palo Alto commu- The council overwhelmingly gist. there is no evidence that the vac- southern California. There are no nity center that was once a high supported Keene’s position. “We suspect it is a virus,” but cine causes the disease. Doctors confirmed cases outside Califor- school. Today, Cubberley houses “I don’t see how anyone can doctors have not yet confirmed Monday emphasized the disease is nia. an eclectic collection of tenants explain to our voters, most of its presence in all of the patients, rare. It has been seen occasionally Most of those stricken are ages and amenities, including artist whom are voters in the city and he said. in the Bay Area, but the presence studios, child care providers, ath- Van Haren and Dr. Emmanuelle of five cases in the past 18 months ­VÌÕi`ÊÊ«>}iÊ£Ó® letic playing fields, a theater and ­VÌÕi`ÊÊ«>}iÊ® ÜÜÜ°*>Ì"i°VÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊÓn]ÊÓä£{ÊU Page 5 Upfront 450 Cambridge Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 QUOTE OF THE WEEK (650) 326-8210 PUBLISHER William S. Johnson (223-6505) EDITORIAL Editor Jocelyn Dong (223-6514) Associate Editor Carol Blitzer (223-6511) Mountain View Center THURSDAY // March 6 Sports Editor Keith Peters (223-6516) Express & Online Editor Elena Kadvany (223-6519) It was hell — it was really hell.