School District halts long-planned construction at Woodland Star school

Three days before the first day of school, Caroline Hopewell, director of Woodland Star Charter School, was surprised to see workers tarping the huge demolition site at the new entrance to campus, where construction was slated to begin on a new, long-awaited Multipurpose Room building. 

The Measure E-funded project, she was informed by School District officials, was on hold.

The plan called for replacing an old portable, which housed reception, administrative offices and a small assembly space, with a new building. Though grading and site work had been done over the summer, construction on the structure has been halted. 

“It’s an issue of money,” Hopewell said after a meeting with Sonoma Valley Unified Superintendent Adrian Palazuelos and Bruce Abbott, Associate Superintendent. 

“Dr. Palazuelos and Mr. Abbott didn’t elaborate, but my sense is that we are not the only school with an ‘on hold’ status,” she told The Sun. “I’m going to take their word that ‘on hold’ means that at some point we will see this building. It’s just very unfortunate that the structure that served as our admin offices and main hall was demolished.” 

Superintendent Palazuelos confirmed the work stoppage but said the project has not been canceled, but is “temporarily suspended” while the financing is reviewed.

In the original vision by Quattrocchi Kwok, architect designers of the previous and current SVUSD bond money projects, Woodland Star was to get a library, a kitchen, a new admin building and a Multipurpose Room (MPR). 

Two years later, In 2019, the school administration was advised that the projects had been downscaled to two, and the MPR/ Main Hall would be smaller, but still a new building. The modular 40′ x 36′ administration building was delivered this summer. It provides adequate admin space but is configured in such a way that any other uses are impossible. “It does not have the flexibility that our previous building had, where nearly half was used for community,” Hopewell said. 

In her August 20 letter to Dr. Palazuelos and the entire school board, Hopewell urged the importance of the MPR for the 220 student Waldorf-inspired school. The MPR was to be used for classes, middle school bathrooms, venue for class plays, community gathering, daily distribution of breakfast and lunch, and indoor space in inclement weather and bad air days.

The school currently has no gathering space. “We believe that a Main Hall is essential in promoting our culture of a vibrant and inclusive community,” she said.

The current enrollment is 220, with nearly 40 percent Latino children. The school is eligible to be a Title I school, a designation reflecting the high percentage of economically disadvantaged families, and offers free breakfast and lunch to all students. The new MPR would have served as a place to provide those meals. 

At Prestwood Middle School, construction to enlarge and upgrade the Multi Purpose Room is expected to be complete in February 2023. Current enrollment there is 253. At Sassarini, with an enrollment of 244, workers are presently doing preliminary work for construction of the planned new Multi Purpose room. The school has a MPR which it can continue to use until the new one is built. 

The only trustee to respond to the Sun’s request for clarification of the “on hold” status of the Woodland Star project was Anne Ching, who spoke as an individual, explaining that the view of the board would be expressed by Board President Cathy Colman. Trustee Colman has not responded to the Sun.

Ching, who joined the board in 2020 after all the athletic project spending funded by Measure E was committed, explained her sole opposition, expressed in a 4-1 vote to continue spending to construct the planned Sassarini MPR. “In my opinion, it is not fiscally prudent to invest in any major upgrades to our campuses at this time without careful consideration of enrollment trends contained in a recent demographic study commissioned in 2021-22. The study predicts a significant decline in student enrollment over the next 5-10 years.”

Ching told the Sun she had expressed this concern at a recent board meeting, “imploring” her colleagues to place current projects on hold until they have an opportunity to develop a strategic plan, hopefully by year-end. “This sentiment has been widely echoed by constituents and taxpayers in the Valley.”  

. Superintendent Adrian Palazuelos emphasized the financial aspect in his reply to the Sun with regard to the status of the Woodland Star Charter School modernization project. 

“First, to be clear, the project has not been canceled,” he said. “It has been temporarily suspended while the District performs an assessment and considers how best to execute the remainder of the District’s Measure E bond program projects. Those decisions will be made as expeditiously as possible with communication on this topic being provided directly to Woodland Star Executive Director, Caroline Hopewell.”

Regarding the old combination admin/gathering building, he stated that it was demolished and replaced before the MPR project was suspended. Dr. Palazuelos added that the District has substitute facilities which can be made available to meet Woodland Star’s needs on a short term basis.

“At a time of significant construction cost escalation and rising inflation, the District is doing its best to determine the best course forward to meet its facilities needs and fulfill its obligations to the community under the Measure E bond,” Dr. Palazuelos said. “We can assure you that meeting the facilities needs of Woodland Star remains a priority.” 

Hopewell said, “It’s just very unfortunate that the structure that served as our admin offices and Main Hall was demolished. As you can imagine, the Main Hall is the heart of any school’s culture. But we are survivors over at Woodland Star and we will rally to make this work until our building comes to fruition.”