BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A teacher housing project is becoming a headache for the Mountain View Whisman School District as the board tries to figure out how to buy the land underneath the new building.
If the board doesn’t purchase the land by June 30, then the district would be on the hook for a $1.9 million annual ground lease for the next 55 years.
“We have spent way too much time as a board and as staff dealing with this housing project,” board member William Lambert said on Thursday.
Parents and teachers were alarmed by a presentation that suggested the board could pause plans to add shade, plants and outdoor play and learning areas at all 11 campuses — a $13 million “greening” project that’s been in the works for three years.
“I don’t think parents should have to dig through presentations or hear in strange ways that this is a possibility for us. We want to hear it from you so we can gather signatures, write letters and come talk to you,” said Jenna Kincaid, a parent at Stevenson Elementary School.
Board member Devon Conley said the board received over 40 emails, some with hundreds of signatures, to continue the greening project.
Meanwhile, school employees are beginning to move in to the district’s new apartments at 699 N. Shoreline Blvd. Out of 123 apartments, 34 have been rented and 21 are in the application process, Conley said.
Apartments that don’t get filled by district employees would be offered to employees in the Los Altos School District and Mountain View-Los Altos High School District before the general public, Conley said.
The board on Jan. 23 approved a ground lease and spent on a $50,000 on an option to purchase the land.
The purchase price for the land depends on private negotiations with the owner.
The board on Thursday discussed options for financing the purchase with Chief Business Officer Rebecca Westover.
The district can borrow money through certificates of participation or spend money from Measure T, a $259 million bond measure for facilities approved by voters in March 2020.
The district has already spent $88 million from Measure T to build the apartments.
“We don’t want to be constantly talking about the housing project. We want to get this solved,” board member Lisa Henry said on Thursday.
Separate from budget Lambert said he wants the housing project “completely separated” from the district’s budget.
“In fact, I’m really shocked in a way that the state of California allows something like this to happen because this was a new kind of thing, and it seems to me that it just puts our financial position at risk,” Lambert said.
The district needs to bring in real estate experts who can advise the board and handle negotiations, said Lambert, who was ready to pause Measure T projects to pay for the purchase.
Conley and Henry wanted to finance the purchase another way. Board members Charles DiFazio and Ana Reed were non-committal. No vote was taken because a vote wasn’t on Thursday’s agenda.
The board will continue to discuss financing at two meetings in March.
“We’re in complicated circumstances with the teacher housing,” interim Superintendent Jeff Baier said.
The project was spearheaded by former Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph, who resigned on Nov. 1 after announcing the state will audit the district for potential fraud.
Rudolph started working on the project shortly after he was hired in June 2015.
Rudolph did a survey in 2017 that found that more than half of school employees would live in employee housing, if provided.
Rudolph first looked at building on the district’s portion of Cooper Park but abandoned the idea in May 2019 because residents didn’t want to lose open space.
Rudolph then partnered with a private developer, Miramar Capital, on an apartment complex called “The Sevens” between West Middlefield Road and North Shoreline Boulevard.
Voters approved Measure T in March 2020, costing property owners about $30 per $100,000 in assessed value per year.
The apartments broke ground in November 2022, and Rudolph wrote a “roadmap to establishing affordable teacher housing” for other districts to use in August 2023.
In March 2024, Rudolph traveled to Washington, D.C., to discuss teacher housing with federal legislators such as Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, public records show.
Rudolph was accompanied by the PR firm Woodberry & Associates, public records show.
The board hired Woodberry & Associates for $384,000 to “pursue opportunities for earned media and thought leadership related to the district’s pioneering efforts on teacher and staff housing,” the contract said.
The district canceled the contract after Rudolph resigned.
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