Master Facility Plan Update

FACILITY DEVELOPMENT

Master Facility Plan Update 2013

Background on Enrollment Growth in the Menlo Park City School District

In the last decade, MPCSD has seen its student enrollment increase by approximately 40%. While most of the State’s Districts are experiencing flat or declining enrollment, MPCSD is among a select number of high performing districts in California experiencing additional enrollment growth. While this presents a challenge for our community to accommodate even more students and maintain the quality that we have all worked so hard to build, it is also a very positive sign that our schools are such a strong draw.

In response to increasing enrollment, MPCSD’s 2005-07 Master Facility Plan created goals to expand capacity and modernize our four schools (Laurel, Encinal, Oak Knoll and Hillview). The expansion and modernization of our existing four schools that was funded by the 2006 Bond is mostly complete, and the bond funds were sufficient to provide some additional capacity above and beyond the ‘07 projected enrollment. However, our District is now experiencing additional enrollment growth that is significantly beyond the projections upon which the 2005-07 Master Plan was based. Consequently, enrollment has now surpassed even the additional capacity that was added above and beyond the original plan.

In the 2005-07 Master Facility Plan, Laurel was planned for a target peak enrollment of 380-395, and Encinal and Oak Knoll for 680-700. All three elementary schools are now well beyond these targets, surpassing the target peak and consuming all the flex capacity at each site. Hillview Middle School, which was built for a capacity of 950-1050, has sufficient room to accommodate the projected increases, but our three elementary schools do not. As a result, the District has been working since last summer to update its Master Facility Plan and review options. The School Board has held numerous public meetings to review options for addressing the enrollment growth challenge and take public input. Links to meeting documents are posted on the right hand side of this page. Please click through to Key Directions and Decisions for an overview of the current status, and to Frequently Asked Questions for additional details and more information.