$47M Educational Options Center Breaks Ground

Pleasanton Unified School District broke ground March 31 on a $47 million Educational Options Center at the former Village High School site on Bernal Avenue. (pleasantonweekly.com) The project will replace aging portable classrooms with three permanent buildings for Village High School, Pleasanton Virtual Academy and the district’s Adult Transition Options program. District officials said the new campus is part of the voter-approved Measure I bond program. (pleasantonusd.net) (patch.com) Pleasanton Weekly reported the ceremony drew district leaders, city officials and school board members, with Superintendent Maurice Ghysels calling the project a long-planned upgrade for students in alternative programs. Independent News said the district marked the groundbreaking as a milestone in replacing the old Village campus. (pleasantonweekly.com) (independentnews.com) The center consolidates programs that serve students who do not follow a standard campus schedule. Pleasanton Virtual Academy offers home, online and in-person instruction, while Village High is the district’s continuation high school and Adult Transition serves adults with disabilities in college-and-career transition programming. (pva.pleasantonusd.net) (village.pleasantonusd.net) (adulteducation.pleasantonusd.net) Pleasanton Unified has framed the campus as a capacity project as well as a facilities upgrade. A district newsletter said the new center is intended as a “modern, purpose-built campus” for programs that together serve roughly 500 students, a figure the district has cited since at least 2023. (pleasantonusd.net) (livermorevine.com) State environmental filings describe a larger construction area of about 110,000 square feet, including roughly 30,140 square feet of new replacement buildings and site upgrades. Bid documents reviewed by procurement services list demolition of old classroom, multipurpose and administration buildings, plus parking and Americans with Disabilities Act improvements. (ceqanet.lci.ca.gov) (bidnetdirect.com) The work follows demolition that began earlier this year at Village High. Pleasanton Weekly reported in January that temporary classrooms had been set up at the district’s former office site at 4665 Bernal Avenue to house students during construction. (pleasantonweekly.com) (pleasantonusd.net) The district is pushing ahead with the project while facing a budget crunch in its general fund. Ghysels said in his March 25 State of the District address that bond-funded construction work is continuing even as Pleasanton Unified weighs operating cuts, because bond money is restricted to facilities and cannot be shifted into everyday school expenses. (pleasantonweekly.com) For now, the construction site at Bernal Avenue and Sunol Boulevard is the clearest sign of that split: a district cutting costs in one budget while building a new campus in another. The next visible step is vertical construction on the permanent home for Pleasanton’s alternative education programs. (pleasantonweekly.com)