Update on facilities upgrades at Menlo Park schools

Editor’s note: We always appreciate Menlo Park school board member Francesca Segre’s email reports on what happened at board meetings. Here’s her latest, which focuses on the need for facilities upgrades at schools.

“Above all else, when I send my children off to school each day, I want to know they will be safe. And, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most parents feel the same way.

“Last night [April 18], at the Menlo Park City School District Board meeting, all of the board members urgently and resoundingly directed the superintendent to move forward with plans to improve campus safety through critical facilities upgrades. There are many steps along the way, but if the initiative goes forward, voters would see an MPCSD bond on the November ballot to pay for the improvements.

“The facilities upgrades under consideration address scenarios we don’t want to imagine, but must. Line items include controlling access to our schools to prevent would-be shooters from getting in, replacing 65-year-old buildings to ensure the best seismic engineering, and upgrading decades-old audio-visual systems to improve emergency communications.

“Other items in the plan would improve the classroom environment and the global environment. Students and teachers spoke up at the meeting last night saying it gets distractingly hot at school – only a handful of our classrooms have air conditioning. The plan Supt. Gracia presented will wean MPCSD off polluting fossil fuels and move us onto clean electricity to provide both heating and air conditioning for every classroom through electric heat pumps.

“If you would like to get involved in this significant facilities initiative, please reply to votefrancesca@gmail.com, and I’ll connect you with people who are mobilizing to support it.

“In other news, the district is on track to adopt a new K-2 phonics curriculum Heggerty:Bridge to Learning. The new textbook will replace the Fountas and Pinnell phonics curriculum. You can review it by appointment at the district office through June 6. Teachers who were on the textbook adoption team say it is succinct, systematic, and sequential in a way that will improve reading outcomes.

“If you want to chat more, I’ll be with Supt. Gracia at the Sup and Sandwich event she’s hosting May 2 at the Arrillaga Community Center 12 noon to 1:00 pm.”

InMenlo file photo (c) 2020