Once again the Whisman School district, now the Mountain View Whisman School district, is ignoring the neighbors of its schools just as they did when Monta Loma was redesigned the last time. This story is the first I have heard of any intention of the district to make changes at Monta Loma.

I find it very telling that "Administrators, trustees and representatives of the architecture firm expressed concern that no one from the community attended last week's presentation."

How were we to know that it was being held. We hadn't even been informed that changes to the schools that would affect us were being planned.

Furthermore, this is the first I've heard of tonight's meeting which due to lack of notice I'm unable to attend.

I think that until the neighbors of all the schools are given full information regarding any changes to their neighborhood schools, and are given proper notice of all future meetings, all such plans and any spending for same should be put on hold.

Finally, the school district should let us know how much money and time has gone into this proposal thus far.

At first glance, the development looks reasonably thought out. The two story additions are on the interior of the campus/green space. It's a shame to loose any green space, but at least in this design it is minimal. The school space is tight now and if the student population is due to grow, the space is needed. I'm glad someone is keeping on top of this for the students coming up.

Did you expect them to come to your door, or send you an ingraved invitation?

I certainly heard of the meeting - the notices were certainly around.

Keep up and chill out.

To @school neighbor:

Sarcasm won't help this discussion.

I do expect some kind of notification for any issue which directly affects neighbors in proximity to the school, particularly when meetings are scheduled. Engraved invitation are not required.

There were no notices posted on my street or at the school, notices which I might see when using the park.

If they are increasing class sizes by 20 percent, why would they need to build more classrooms? This makes no sense and seems costly at a time when money is short and ideas long.

I'm trying to understand the proposals in detail (even if they are preliminary). The two story buildings are conceptually OK - unfortunately the 2 story at Crittenden by the same architect is unusable (4 classrooms?) because of the noise from children on the floors (distracting bumbs and thumps). There have been no teachers assigned to these second story classrooms for many years.

Also - there are many permanent classrooms and MUR (Multi Use Rooms) slated for destruction to make way for new construction. In a few cases there are reconstructions of parking areas only to make way for administrative expansions. At Bubb - there are drive in designs that will work less well than the long-linear public street parking spaces used extensively by parents for many years (Barbara side).

With all the higher densities proposed for each of the campuses - there is no option to reopen the two leased school sites - or put an administrative building on the underused Cooper School (preschool lease) site. I've gone to three of the meetings for this phase of capital improvement - I'm not yet convinced the priorities are reasonable or (if you think they are) that they are planned for a cost effective fix. They do not yet have my support (even with a kid still in the system).

I'm not sure if it will apply to this situation, but just in case... I heard of another school that moved to an indoor, multistory structure with recycled air for environmental purposes. Their illness rate was much higher than a neighboring school with outdoor hallways. Just something to consider...