Update: International School Forced To Relocate

The German American International School will need to find a new space to house its students, after the Menlo Park City District Board of Education voted to terminate its lease with the school Tuesday.

District administrators recommended that The Board terminate the lease for the property, which is also known as the O’Conner School site, effective June 30, 2014.

“Menlo Park City School District lacks the facility capacity at our existing elementary campuses to absorb additional students without making major program changes,” said Ahmad Sheikholeslami, Director of Facility Planning and Construction for MPCSD during a meeting about the issue on March 21. 

In the past 10 years, the district’s student population increased by about 40%, according to data on the district’s website, a trajectory which is expected to continue. Sheikholeslami projects that enrollment could increase to 3,330 students by 2022.

The district will be working on a new program for the O’Conner site, which could convert the property into a K-5 school. 

Not everyone is pleased with the decision. In fact, hundreds of parents and teachers signed a petition urging the school board to consider alternatives.

Tom Siegel, President of the Board of the German-American International School, told Patch, “For over 20 years GAIS has leased the O’Connor school site from the District, and we have established a thriving international multilingual school with 300 kids.” 

It is unclear where those students will be educated in next few years. 

“It is widely acknowledged that a school like GAIS needs more than 15 months to relocate in today’s highly competitive real estate market,” Siegel said.

There is an option to extend the lease by one year until May 2015, although nothing is set in stone.

District administrators will be discussing ways to improve the facility to meet the needs of future and current students this month. They are scheduled to bring preliminary recommendations to the school board in May.

More on Patch: 

International School Likely Ousted from Its Campus After 20 Years

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