New High School in East Dublin Being Debated at Tonight’s School Board Meeting

DUBLIN, CA–The need for, and debate surrounding, a second comprehensive high school to be located on the east side of Dublin has been a controversial topic for over a decade. This website was inspired in part by the debate over the (now defunct) Tri-Valley Learning Corp’s failed attempt to start a charter high school in Dublin.

At tonight’s Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting a second comprehensive high school moves a step closer to reality with the many topic of discussion being the acquisition of the Promenade location, using Bond Measure H funds. The name “Promenade” comes from a long promised but never constructed walkable retail location tucked between blocks of town homes. For long-time east Dublin residents, the Promenade brings back memories of model home maps and mock-ups of a community retail location.

As per the Board announcement, “As further discussed and described in the Staff Report attached hereto and incorporated by reference, the District has been facing and continues to face significant population growth and increased residential and commercial development within its boundaries, which has caused severe overcrowding of the District’s facilities. As a result, the District has a need to acquire land for new school sites and related educational purposes, including a new high school.”

The two key agenda items are both required steps enroute to acquiring the land. Building a new school in California is a complex process; acquiring land for that school is complexity on top of complexity with environmental and other regulations in play to help ensure students a safe school site for decades to come. Both key agenda items are public hearings open for comment:

• “Approve Resolution No. 2018/19-08, Evaluating Real Property in Accordance with School Site Selection Standards and Approving the Acquisition of Real Property”
• “Approve Resolution No. 2018/19-09, Finding and Determining that the Public Interest, Convenience, and Necessity Require the Acquisition of Certain Property for Public Purposes and Authorizing the Acquisition Thereof”

In support of these action items are two studies:

• Geological and Environmental Hazards Assessment Report – this document covers the State of California’s standards for school site selection as found in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) Section 14010, and additional codes and regulations applicable to school facilities as located in the Education, Government and Public Resources Codes.
• Pipeline Safety Hazard Assessment – this document is specific to CCR Title 5 Sections 14010 (d) and (h) and CDE’s policy on pipelines.

There are also the following resolutions up for vote:

• Resolution of Necessity (evidence supporting the resolution): DUSD staff recommends approving this resolution
• Site Selection Resolution (evidence in support of Title 5 findings): DUSD staff recommends approving this resolution