Los Altos board favors higher‑capacity campus concept, asks designers to refine TK/K grouping and front‑of‑school layout

The Los Altos School District board approved the meeting agenda unanimously and then held a study session to review four concept designs for a proposed Los Altos Elementary campus. Board members and district staff focused discussion on student capacity, building configurations and tradeoffs among cost, flexibility and future phasing.

Design and construction teams presented four overall concepts and three grade‑configuration variants (TK–6, TK–8 and 4–8) for each concept. The design team described the tradeoffs: two‑building and three‑building folio configurations, single‑story wings for TK/K, and a separate administration and multipurpose (MPR) building in some concepts. The team said their target capacity range was roughly 500–600 students but presented options from about 394 up to roughly 807 depending on configuration.

Board discussion centered on flexibility, instructional program needs and budget implications. Concept 3 — three two‑story folio classroom buildings plus a standalone MPR and gym — produced the largest capacity (about 607 in the configuration shown) and was described by the presenters as the most flexible for long‑term use but also the most expensive. Concept 4…