Four Schools

Happy Tuesday Daly Citizens!

Jefferson Elementary is deciding which schools, if any, to close

Taking a look at another local government this week: the Jefferson Elementary School District recently formed a committee to decide which schools, if any, should close or merge. Jefferson runs most of the elementary and middle schools in Daly City, Westlake Elementary included. (Parts of the city are served by other districts, including Bayshore, which got its own district after a squabble in the 1930s.) Jefferson School District has its own elected board, separate from the city. But its decisions still affect the city.

In 1972 the district had 21 schools for about 9,400 students. Today it runs 14 schools for about 4,500. Daly City grew from about 67k people to about 101k over the same stretch, so it isn't that the city emptied out. There are just far fewer school-age kids for the number of people who live here, and that is true across California, the country and the world. People are having way fewer kids now than they have historically.

At their September 9 board meeting the district said this school year started with 200 fewer students than the year before, which is "more than the size of one of our elementary schools."

The district's budget is short about $2.1M this year and projects almost $9M by 2028-29. When enrollment falls, the state keeps paying on a three-year average for a while, so this year Jefferson is paid for about 270 students it no longer has, roughly $3.7M. That cushion shrinks every year. For now the gap comes out of reserves, mostly the fund set aside for retiree health.

The district priced closing a school at about $750k in savings a year per elementary school, because "teachers follow the students." What goes away is the building's overhead: the principal, the office, custodians, utilities. The options a district budget committee priced out this spring would take the district from 14 schools to 10, two elementary schools in 2027-28 and then one more elementary and one middle school after that. The presenter called that scenario "just a ballpark, an idea," and that same committee advised against closing two schools in 2027-28. No schools have been named.

Here are the district's own numbers for every school, alphabetical. Enrollment is from the federal data that goes back to 1986; capacity is from the district's 2024 demographic study.

Susan B. Anthony opened in 1998. The per-school counts stop at 2023-24, the latest year in the federal data, which is why they add up to more than this fall's 4,541. (2024 demographic study, May 8, 2024 board meeting; federal school data)

The district has done this before. It closed six schools between 1972 and 1986 and two more in 2004. Some of those buildings are still around. Olympia became the Doelger Arts Center, and General Pershing is the district's preschool. Columbus was sold to a developer for about $18M and approved for 80 homes. The enrollment data is stark, but from the ashes new opportunities can spring. I am not sure we can do anything about stopping closing some schools, it is part of a larger national trend, but we can speak up about what happens next to the schools.

The committee meets next on Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 8 p.m. at the District Office boardroom, 101 Lincoln Avenue. That is the meeting where individual schools come up. It isn't recorded and doesn't take public comment, but it is open to watch. Each school has a parent on the committee. If you have a kid in a Jefferson school, ask your principal who yours is and tell them what you think. The board takes public comment at special meetings on December 9 and February 3, and votes on February 10. Comments also go to [email protected]. (Committee page)

Side Note: I pulled this from the district's budget filings, board recordings, federal enrollment data and old copies of the Daly City Record. If I got something wrong, let me know.

City Council, September 28

A New parking lot at 6401 Mission

The City Council met last night (video). On their agenda, item 10 on the consent calendar lets the City Manager sign a license with Daly City Mitsubishi to store overflow cars on the vacant city lot at Mission, Hillside and John Daly, just north of the 88 Hillside apartments. Possibly the most visible vacant lot in the city. $3,500 a month, about $42k a year, for three years, with one-year renewals to October 2032 on the City Manager's approval alone. Mitsubishi grades and paves the lot first. The city can end it on 90 days' notice and gets the lot back every October for Top of the Hill. (Staff report, draft license)

That lot is 6401 Mission Street, and it is Site 8 in the Housing Element plan. In November 2024 the council rezoned it to residential only by urgency ordinance, the kind that takes effect the night it passes, because the city had missed the state's housing deadline by almost two years and had been sued over it. Asked that fall how many homes it could hold, staff said "about 60, 70 units." The staff report for the car lot mentions none of that. It calls the parcel a vacant lot that "will eventually be marketed for development" and leaves it there.

For temporary use, fine. An empty lot earning $42k a year, with a 90-day exit, is fine on its own. We told the state this is where some of our housing goes and changed the zoning under legal pressure to make that true. Is 6401 Mission still a housing site or isn't it? And does grading and paving it make an apartment building there more likely or less? Personally I'd love if that site got some sort of public art in addition to housing. It is such a visible spot at the top of John Daly Blvd.

Housing for people already here, second reading

The ordinance giving people who live or work in Daly City first pick of 70% of new income-restricted units passed its second reading 5-0 as Ordinance 1493, and the zoning cleanup that repeals the city's own ADU chapter in favor of state law passed 5-0 as Ordinance 1494. Both take effect in 30 days.

Hotels join a Peninsula tourism district

Item 6 gave Burlingame our consent to fold Daly City into the San Francisco Peninsula Tourism Marketing District. Our hotels would pay 0.75% of room revenue into it, or 1.5% if they have big meeting space, starting January 2027, and the county's convention and visitors bureau spends it on marketing. Staff says our hotel owners asked for this. Burlingame still has to run a hearing and a protest process, so a hotel that doesn't want in has to object there. Burlingame runs the county's hotel marketing district. The fee falls on our seven hotels, not the city. Staff couldn't say how much more hotel tax it would bring in. The consent also covers future renewals without coming back to our council. (Staff report)

Cannabis equity

The one public hearing was about who qualifies for the city's cannabis equity program. Today an applicant has to meet every eligibility criterion in the code. The amendment lets one be enough, whether that is a cannabis-related conviction, low income or a connection to an affected community. Staff says it lines the city up with state grant rules, at no cost. (Staff report, draft ordinance) The council introduced it 4-0, with Councilmember DiGiovanni abstaining, so it comes back for a second reading.

Other business

The Callan Boulevard water main replacement went to Golden State Construction & Utility, the lowest of nine bids, for up to $1.35M including a contingency. The old main runs through the hillside above Serramonte Center and has leaked repeatedly. The council also set an October 26 hearing on reallocating $500k of federal HUD money inside this year's action plan. Where it moves from and to is in a staff report I don't have either.

Recreation Commission, September 22

Pickleball at Gellert

Two players came to public comment last Tuesday about the pickleball crunch at Gellert Park, which has two courts. John Boncato said what started as six players has grown to 20 to 24 people waiting at a time, with waits of 50 minutes to an hour, and the courts are starting to crack. Players have been bringing their own nets onto empty tennis courts. "I do not feel good every time I set up my own net on an existing tennis court, and I am sure that tennis players feel the same," Steven Sampaga said. Staff have asked what two more courts at Gellert and two at Westlake would cost, and asked for until November to bring something firm. The commission put a "court usage discussion," pickleball and tennis, on its October 27 agenda. (Meeting page)

The after-school program

The Youth Recreation Program report was the meat of the agenda. The after-school program runs at six school sites and serves about 700 kids, with a wait list while staff get hired. Most of the spots are free under a state grant. When those run out it's a fee, about $200 a trimester under the Jefferson contract, which a staff member worked out to roughly 82 cents an hour. The Build a Dream Scholarship can cover the fee spots, and it is funded by the beer garden at Kasayahan and the February crab feed.

Hillside, and the fall lineup

Magical Bridge at Hillside Park got its footprint described on the record: the grass from where the clubhouse meets the basketball courts. The tennis and basketball courts stay. The general contract is still in meetings.

Staff also ran through the fall. Trunk or Treat is at Westlake Park on Saturday, October 24, 5:30 to 8:30, and this year it costs $5 a kid for ages 3 to 14 if you pay ahead and $10 on the day. Under 3 is free. Staff's reason is that the department wants to bring the community together and also "bring a little back to our department for all of the free things that we do."

Women's Commission, September 24

Three of five commissioners made it on Thursday. The draft Status of Women in Daly City report was held over again, because the two subcommittee members who wrote it were out and the chair wanted a full commission for one of the body's first real votes.

The commission's first speaker series event is set: a community conversation on domestic violence on Thursday, November 5 at City Hall, with CORA, the Keller Center's Daly City clinic, Rape Trauma Services, a police department DVERT advocate and a victim advocate on the panel. The time and format are still being settled.

Election season

Three of the five council seats are on the November 3 ballot. The incumbents are Rod Daus-Magbual, Pamela DiGiovanni and Teresa Proaño. The challengers are Tony Bayudan, Thomas Nuris, Barry Rodriguez and Asia Su. (City election page)

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, September 30, the League of Women Voters holds its Daly City candidate forum, 6 to 8 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 333 90th Street. Free, and the League runs it rather than the city. It is the last scheduled forum before early voting opens on Monday, October 5. Faith in Action held theirs on Saturday at Pollicita Middle School. If you went and took notes, I'd like to see them. (Details)

Important dates

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 30, 6 to 8 p.m. League of Women Voters candidate forum, Council Chambers, 333 90th Street. Free. Details

Thursday, October 1. Business license renewals are due. The deadline is in the municipal code, so it holds whether or not a notice reached you. An IRS extension doesn't move it. The tax is figured on last year's gross sales or rental income, before expenses. Legacy Business nominations open the same day. Details

Monday, October 5. Early voting begins in San Mateo County. Registration closes October 19, write-in filing closes October 20 and the second campaign finance report is due October 22. Details

Tuesday, October 6, 7 p.m. Planning Commission, City Hall. Agenda not posted yet. Meeting

Thursday, October 8, 7 p.m. Small Business Commission, City Hall. Staff previewed a Top of the Hill marketing update for this one. Meeting

Monday, October 12, 7 p.m. City Council, with the Sanitation District at 6:45. Agendas should post Thursday the 8th. The Arts and Culture Commission meets the next night at 6:30. Council, Arts and Culture

Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 8 p.m. Jefferson Elementary closure committee, meeting two, District Office boardroom, 101 Lincoln Avenue. Individual school sites are on this agenda. Committee page

Tuesday, October 27, 7 p.m. Recreation Commission, City Hall. The court usage discussion, pickleball and tennis. Not on the portal yet.

Around town

Tuesday Fun Night Tuesdays, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Westlake Library, 275 Southgate Ave. Drop-in, a different activity each week, kids and adults. Free.

Teen art workshop Wednesday, September 30, 4 to 5:30 p.m. Serramonte Main Library, 40 Wembley Drive. Perler bead photo frames. Free, no registration.

Family Night Thursdays, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Bayshore Library, 460 Martin Street. Right after the 6 p.m. storytime. Free.

Kasayahan sa Daly City Saturday, October 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Gellert Park, 50 Wembley Drive. The city's big October festival. Free, all ages. Parking is tight, so walk if you can. The beer garden, run with the Daly City-Colma Chamber this year, funds the Build a Dream Scholarship.

Crochet Workshop Saturday, October 3, 2 to 4 p.m. Peninsula Books, 441 Westlake Center. Adults, and kids under 12 with an adult.

Women of Rodeo Saturday, October 3, 5 to 8:30 p.m. Cow Palace, 2600 Geneva Ave. An all-women rodeo. Ticketed, kid-friendly. The Grand National Rodeo follows on Friday and Saturday, October 9 and 10.

Second Thursday Book Club Thursday, October 8, 2 to 3 p.m. Serramonte Main Library, 40 Wembley Drive. Free.

Silent Book Club Sunday, October 11, 2 to 4 p.m. Peninsula Books, 441 Westlake Center. Free.

No school Monday, October 12 in the Jefferson Union High School District, for Indigenous Peoples Day. District calendar

The library storytimes keep running weekly: Serramonte Tuesdays and Baby Bounce Wednesdays at 10:15 a.m., John Daly Wednesdays at 6 p.m., Westlake Thursdays at 10:15 a.m. and Bayshore Thursdays at 6 p.m., plus Play & Learn with Help Me Grow for ages 0 to 5 on Fridays at 10:30 a.m. at Serramonte. All free. Bayshore also runs a drop-in Teen Space on weekday afternoons, 1:30 to 3:30, for 6th through 12th graders.

Everything past two weeks out is on the events calendar.

Other alerts

The Westlake Clean-Up Collaborative filled three big bags in an hour on September 19 and is going monthly. There's a mailing list form in the post.

Until next time!