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Published on 11/03/1999 All articles from this issue

Preschool to replace LASD's Covington Park

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos' park space could get smaller next year if the Los Altos School District approves a plan to relocate some of the preschool tenants on its Covington campus to the Covington mini-park at the back of the school.

The addition of a preschool in the district-owned mini-park could cover some-to-all of the park area not already slated for the proposed district maintenance yard and offices. The Covington Site Committee was mulling over three proposals last week that would incorporate a preschool into the school-site architectural plans, said committee member David Casas.

The redesign of the Covington site is part of the district's $94.7 million master facility plan to update each of its schools and reopen Covington as its seventh elementary school in fall 2001.

Last month, the district presented a plan to the public for the redesign of Covington School that did not include a preschool. The plan, if approved, would renovate the site's 21 classrooms and multipurpose building, as well as adding a new library, five classrooms and one lab to the school portion of the campus. The district's maintenance yard would move from its current site on the south side of the Covington site into a metal shed-like building among redwood trees at the back of the school property near Rosita Avenue.

The placement of the maintenance yard would enable the district to save the redwood tree as well as the tennis courts and tot lot in the mini-park. Some grass area would be covered. The district offices would move from six former classrooms and two portable buildings at the front of the school to the existing maintenance area and three portables.

The district's request to incorporate a preschool into the Covington site plan this month took some members by surprise. Casas said there had been talk of before- and after-school care for Covington students, but no mention of a preschool.

Dave McNulty, construction program director, said leasing portions of district property to preschool providers has been part of the district's plan from the start, but until Oct. 18, the district did not know the details, such as how many children the preschool would serve.

McNulty said the preschool could serve about 50 to 80 children from infants to five-year-olds. He said the preschool would more than likely be placed on the five acres of the district's portion of the Covington site, separate from the 10 acres that will be used for the school.

Under state law, preschools must provide 35 square feet of indoor space per child and 75 square feet of outdoor space per child. McNulty said the proposed preschool would need less than a half an acre of space.

The district could also place preschool centers on its Egan and Blach junior high campuses - a plan that has Egan neighbors protesting. As of last week, about 75 neighbors had signed a petition opposing the preschool proposed for the corner of Egan, saying the center would generate more traffic on their already congested streets.

School officials say the placement of preschools would be beneficial to both the district and the community. When Covington closes, the community could lose five Los Altos child-care providers, and the district could lose $400,000 in lease revenues unless the centers are relocated elsewhere on district property.

Superintendent Marge Gratiot said the district must submit the finalized plans for Covington and Egan to the State Architect's Office by December.