Pleasanton Unified School District has changed its plans for Alisal Elementary School, but neighbors who object to the project say they still oppose it, the Pleasanton Weekly reports.

The project

In October 2024 the school board approved selling $35 million in Measure I1 bonds for a campus-wide modernization at Alisal, on Santa Rita Road up the block from Amador Valley High. The school was built in 1955 and last updated in 1998. The money was first meant for a new elementary school under the 2016 bond list.

Plans include turning the current multipurpose room into a library, new classrooms and a science lab, a new multipurpose room and kitchen, a stage and music lab, and new outdoor play areas. They also add parking and a drop-off lane.

A circulation study for the district by Hexagon Transportation Consultants says the project would raise the school’s capacity from 554 to 710 students. Alisal had 513 students enrolled when the study was done. Today, families drop off at the Santa Rita frontage road driveways and in a loading zone on Kolln Street, but also in nearby lots, including the medical center, post office and Gingerbread preschool lots.

What changed, and why neighbors object

At an Oct. 21 facilities committee meeting, the district showed changes that move buildings to save mature trees and protect neighbors’ privacy, district spokesperson Susanne Frey told the Weekly. The district is also working with the city on a crossing guard at Santa Rita Road and Black Avenue. The committee backed a new parking lot design with three possible ways to run it. One would keep the Kolln Street gate for emergency vehicles only.

Jensen Tract resident Emelie Rogers said the changes haven’t shifted her view. “We want our local kids to have access to good, modern facilities. But do not expand it,” she said. She pointed to speeding, double parking and blocked driveways that she says are already problems.

What’s next

Frey said the district expects to send plans for the first phases to the Division of the State Architect by the end of this year. It plans to get a building permit next spring and start construction sometime next year, after another community meeting.