School Update January 2011

The neighborhood support of the Porter Ranch Community School has been outstanding! We held our first community meeting and had nearly 300 people in attendance. The curriculum committee has been hard at work on the school plan as well as the curricular focus for the school. The school itself is beginning to really take shape. The library is nearly complete with skylights, computer areas, a projection screen and a library reading nook. The dance floor was just finished and the newly upgraded sound system in the multipurpose room was installed. There will be a parent meeting for any parent who wants to get involved early and help plan for future events like a kindergarten picnic and an all school welcome day. Join us at The Shepherd of the Hills on January 25th at 7PM if you want to get involved in your neighborhood school.
- Mary Melvin, Principal
Article also appeared in the Valley Voice

Porter Ranch Community School Boundaries Announced November 2011

At our November 1, 2011meeting new Castlebay Principal Victoria Littlejohn spoke about her focus on safety at Castlebay, the new partnership with Lowe's to complete beautification projects on campus, and the upcoming much anticipated expansion of the Multi Purpose Room and eating shelter. She noted that the school would also be outfitted with smartboards the the teachers trained to use them. She graciously thanked the PRNC for its generosity over the years in providing much needed equipment.

Miss Littlejohn was joined at the podium by Mary Melvin, the new Principal of the Porter Ranch Community School. She announced that the new boundaries are available and the community is invited to a meeting on November 30, 6:30pm at Germain Elementary for a meeting to focus on the school site plan, curriculum, boundaries, and the dual language program. Full article.

Porter Ranch Community School Principal Named October 2011

Progress on the Porter Ranch Community School and its boundaries became a hot topic at the October PRNC meeting. Since that meeting members of the Council have had the opportunity to meet the newly appointed Principal, Mary Melvin. She comes from Lanai Elementary School in Encino, where she was principal for six years. Before that she was assistant principal at Woodland Hills Elementary School. She has taught every grade from K-6 and also taught in private school.

Board member Becky Leveque exclaimed, “We are really lucky to get someone of such high caliber who interacts so well with parents and students. I was really impressed with her.”

“It is a principal’s dream to open a new school,” said Melvin. “I love a challenge. I am excited about the challenge of a new school, to meet new families, and to create a new community to come together.” Full article.

Porter  Ranch Community School Officially Named April 2011

The new gymnasium under construction at the Porter Ranch Community School will include bleachers provided through a joint use agreement funded by Porter Ranch Development Company. Photo by Wendy L. Moore for the PRNC.

Porter Ranch Community School is the official name of the new school to open in Porter Ranch Fall 2012. The school is under construction at the corner of Mason and Sesnon. It is planned to serve about 1,050 K-8 students. Full article.

Porter Ranch Development Co Presents Check October 2010

At the October 2010 meeting Erik Pfahler, representing the Porter Ranch Development Company presented a check for $894,322 to LAUSD Board Member Tamar Galatzan to pay for community amenities as part of the Joint Use Agreement for the new k-8 school being developed at Mason and Sesnon. Full article

New School Groundbreaking June 2010

The Porter Ranch Community came out to celebrate the new school on Saturday, June 5 at the school site on the corner of Mason & Sesnon. The event was sponsored by LAUSD and Shapell Homes and co-sponsored by Councilman Greig Smith and the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council. Full article

New School Image Released Summer 2009

Architectural Design Unveiled for Porter Ranch School
July 2008
Becky Leveque, Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council Boardmember

R. L. Binder unveiled her design for the Porter Ranch K-8 school at LAUSD’s community meeting on July 9, 2008, explaining that their intent is to create a “large sculptural piece out of the entire campus.” The design was made expressly for Porter Ranch to complement the residential community. It is not intended to look like a house or a shopping center, but more like a museum. Binder likened it to the Whitney Museum in New York or similar to the style of renowned Mexican architect, Luis Barragán.

Architectural plan as of July 2008: View from Mason looking northeast. School entrance and kindergarten rooms on the right. Elementary rooms on the left. Colors have not yet been selected, but will coordinate with the surrounding housing colors.

The school is to be located on the Southeast corner of Mason and Sesnon to serve 1,047 students kindergarten through 8 grade. It is planned for a fall 2012 opening.

The entrance to the school, from the parking lot is identified by a bell tower like structure, acting as an architectural marquee, four feet thick with honeycomb spaces at the top, reminiscent of a Spanish mission.

They have created a system of walls with slender punches for visual interest. Picking up on the geometry are overhangs to protect from sun exposure. The design is intended to provide protection from the wind as much as possible in Porter Ranch.

The roof is planned to be relatively flat with an asymmetrical parapet as a short wall to mask the equipment and pipe vents housed there.

The two story elements will be steel frame with stucco. The gym, food service and multipurpose room will be concrete block with stucco.

Don Lombardo, President of Renaissance, and Pat Pope, President of Sorrento, both expressed concern about the large, plain walls of the multipurpose room and gym facing north on Sesnon. Sue Hammarlund, PRNC member commented that the walls say, “Paint me,” and suggested climbing vines to protect from graffiti and add visual interest. The architect said they will consider these comments and evaluate design options.

Al Grazioli, LAUSD Valley Region Development Manager, noted that the plan calls for an enlarged gym with bleachers for 250 people and the multipurpose room will have a room divider for community meetings and a room to store 300 chairs. These enhancements are being paid for by Porter Ranch Development Company.


View from playground looking west towards elementary school. Covered arcades connect the buildings.

LAUSD brought the Draft Environmental Impact Report for public comment in late September to a community meeting on September 24, 2008. The PRNC plans to take a position on the school and report at the October 7, 2008 meeting.
Draft Environmental Impact Report

New School Design Review Meeting - July 9, 2008

LAUSD presented their proposed layout for the K-8 span school on April 2, 2008. There was an animated discussion about drop off access, sufficient kindergarten parent parking, emergency equipment, classroom features, and a technology center.

The next meeting was scheduled for July 9, 2008, 6:30pm at Germain Elementary School. The purpose of that meeting was to review building placement and the proposed architecture style. Meeting Flyer.

Proposed Building Placement as of April 2008


Starting at the top, the above image shows the multi-purpose room in orange, with food service in yellow, service yard, 2 story middle school in dark blue, space for expanding the middle school and the gym. Moving down the left is the library in purple, the elementary school in an L shape in blue, with the kindergarten classrooms in lighter blue, kindergarten play yard in green, then the parking lot.

The middle areas shown in green would be play area that may be paved. On the right are 6 basketball courts. The field is a soccer sized field. Larger View.

The architect took great care to take the wind and the sun into consideration in proposing this design.

Porter Ranch School Enters Environmental and Architectural Phase

The Porter Ranch K-8 school has begun the Environmental Impact Review (EIR) process. The LAUSD Office of Environmental Healthy & Safety conducted a community meeting June 10, 2008 to review their initial study findings. They collected public comments and questions and will prepare a Draft EIR report for public review and comment. The draft report is due in for public review in September. Upon completion of a 45 day public review period, it is expected that the final report will be sent for LAUSD Board approval January 27, 2009.

The initial study found that the school would have no impact on agricultural resources, land use, mineral resources, population and housing, and recreation. The school is expected to have “less than significant impacts” on aesthetics, biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazardous materials, water quality, public services, and utilities and service systems.

However, several items were listed as having “potentially significant impacts”: air quality, noise, pedestrian safety, transportation and traffic. During the meeting, questions were raised about how the traffic study would be completed. John Moreno, the LAUSD California Environmental Quality Act Project Manager, explained that they would be considering traffic within a half mile of the school using information about expected residents when the school begins operations.

You may view the initial study and Draft EIR at Castlebay Lane & Germain Elementary Schools, Frost & Lawrence Middle Schools, the Porter Ranch Library and by clicking on this link: Initial Environmental Impact Study The file is quite large and will take time to load.

Proposed Porter Ranch K-8 Span School: Topic for February 12, 2008 Meeting
Al Grazioli, LAUSD Valley Region Development Manager, spoke to a standing room only audience of 80+ stakeholders about plans for the K-8 school to be located on the Southeast corner of Mason and Sesnon to serve 1,047 students.

The need for a new school was originally identified the the Porter Ranch Specific Plan, which calls for the developers to provide 7 acres to LAUSD at no cost for an elementary school. Additionally, LAUSD has the option to purchase additional acreage for a middle school.

The new school project moved forward in November 2005 when the PRNC hosted a Town Hall meeting with Roy Romer, LAUSD Superintendent of Schools, to ask for a new school. He assured attendees that if Measure Y passed, we would have a new school. Town Hall Information. Town Hall Meeting Notes.

Measure Y passed November 2005. Since that time the PRNC formed a committee to work with LAUSD, the Councilman's office and S&S to move this project forward quickly. S&S agreed to provide a total of almost 13 acres at no cost to LAUSD so that the school could span K-8. In exchange, the community agreed through changes in the Specific Plan, to allow S&S to build in the future an additional number of houses.

This project is a unique partnership between the community, neighborhood council, councilman's office, developer and LAUSD.

LAUSD held a Community Meeting in October 2006 at Beckford Elementary to kick off the project with the community. Community Meeting Notes.

In February 2007 LAUSD held another Community Meeting at Germaine Elementary to discuss the preferred site. Since that time LAUSD has been working on the Environmental Impact Report. At various times during this process members of the PRNC committee have spoken at LAUSD Board meetings on behalf of the project.

At the February 12, 2008 meeting Mr. Grazioli said that the project will need to move quickly to meet the planned 2012 opening. The upcoming dates are:

• February 26, 2008: Meet the Architect Community Meeting. Discuss design concepts.
• One month later: Community Meeting to review the high level Schematic Design
• Two months later: Community Meeting to review specific Design Elevations.
• November 2008: Need Environmental Clearance.
• Spring 2009: Need approval by State Architects.
• Fall 2009: Begin construction.
• Fall 2012: School opens.

Stakeholders asked various questions. At this time Mr. Grazioli did not have information on what the school boundaries would be. That is usually determined about one  year before opening. He also did not know if the middle school would serve all of Porter Ranch.

Answering a question he commented that with all schools the LAUSD Board could decide at any time not to complete the project. With skyrocketing construction costs the Board has run short on funds to complete all schools and a number of them have been cancelled. He did say that budget shortfalls would not mean that the school would not end up with all the standard features. They would not, for example, decide to eliminate a gym due to the budget.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH MEETING #1:
OCTOBER 16, 2006

LAUSD hosted the first Community Outreach Meeting regarding the proposed school in Porter Ranch on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 6:30pm at Beckford Elementary.

A presentation was made by Ed Van Ginkel, Senior Development Manager at LAUSD. Introductory comments were made by Joseph Pina, LAUSD Community Outreach Coordinator 213-893-6809, Jon Lauritzen, School Board Member for this area and Jean Brown, Local District Superintendent.

The following details were presented about the proposed school:

• 41 classrooms
• 1,047 seats. 300 of these are expected to be for the middle school students.
• Should relieve Castlebay, Beckford, Germaine and Darby elementaries, Lawrence Middle School and Frost Middle School.
• The location is not yet finalized. But it is expected to be near Mason and Sesnon.
• Opening date is projected for 2012, but may be sooner, because land acquisition may be streamlined.
• A community committee will provide input on the facility design and instructional program. This will be headed up by Donna Smith from Jon Lauritzen's office. Please contact Becky Leveque for more information.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:

   1.      Project Definition (this is where we are)
   2.      Site Selection
   3.      Environmental Design (takes a year)
   4.      Property Acquisition and Relocation
   5.      Construction (takes 2 years)

MEETING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Q: Does LAUSD have the funding for this?
A: Funding was provided by Measure Y voted on November 2005. Construction is expected to cost $400 per square foot. The budget can handle up to $500 per square foot. The structures will not be elaborate or expensive, like bricks. The structures will probably be steel-framed, which is anti-termite.

Q: What about earthquake safety?
A: LAUSD builds schools to the strongest standards, just like for any community service center, like a police station. The location will be evaluated during the environmental review. They will not build on a fault.

Q: How many stories would the school be?
A: That has not been determined yet. Most likely it would be 2 stories.

Q: What will the boundaries be?
A: Boundaries will be determined one year prior to opening, which is also when a Principal will be hired.

Q: What will you do to protect the smaller students from the larger ones?
A: The layout and boundaries of the elementary and middle school campuses are not yet determined. One approach is to keep them separate. Another is to encourage the children to grow up together, teaching the older children that they have responsibilities towards the younger ones, in roles like tutoring and mentoring.

Q: What will the academic program be: Gifted? SAS? Magnet?
A: The academic program has not been determined yet. That is done with input from the community. All schools have a gifted program. This would probably not be a magnet school because that is not open to the community. A community school is what is needed here.

Q: Will the middle school be open to the entirety of Porter Ranch?
A: It is planned that the elementary students would matriculate directly into the middle school, which would only take these students.

Q: Will the school open with all grades at once?
A: This is not yet known.

Q: Will the school open as a year round school. One of the recent LAUSD projects opened as a year round school.
A: It is not expected to be a year round school.

Q: When will the Board approve this project?
A: On Nov 15, it will go before the Bond Oversight Committee Review meeting. On Nov 16, it will go before the Facilities Committee Review Meeting. On Nov 28, it will be agendized for the next Board of Education Meeting. On Dec 12, it will go before the Board of Education for Project Definition approval.

OTHER CONCERNS:

Middle School Size: 300 middle school seats may not be enough. Want all the Porter Ranch Middle School students to be able to attend the new school. Driving to Frost doesn't make sense.

Need for School: Neighboring schools could not contain all the future students without this school, and in fact are overflowing now. See Castlebay at 8:15am.

Eyesore: Want to make the school consistent with the architecture of the neighborhood. No eyesores.

Facilities: Would like the school to have space to hold community meetings.

Romer Town Hall: November 2005

About the Town Hall with Roy Romer - Photos
Meeting Notes
Letter from LAUSD Promising a School if Measure Y Passes
Facts About Education in Porter Ranch

It all started with the Town Hall with then Superintendent Roy Romer, asking him for a school for Porter Ranch.