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Tessellations school asks council to expedite CUP, raise enrollment cap and loosen event limits
Summary
Representatives and parents of Tessellations private school told the council they have taken steps to address concerns and asked the city to renew their conditional use permit with an increased capacity to 425 students and removal of a seven-events-per-year limit.
Leaders and parents from Tessellations, a private school in Cupertino, asked the City Council on Oct. 21 to expedite renewal of the school's conditional use permit, raise its enrollment cap and remove limits on special events.
Why it matters: City land-use approvals determine how many students a private school may enroll and how frequently it may hold community events. Those limits affect the school's finances, neighborhood impacts and how the school plans programming.
Tessellations head Lurtherne Williams told the council the school has already taken steps to address several concerns raised during the permit process, including traffic and neighbor coordination. Williams said the school will host the MIT-affiliated Julia Robinson Math Festival on Nov. 2 and is partnering with the India Community Center to offer weekend robotics classes, and has engaged Cupertino Unified School District staff about potential collaboration.
Parent Marabot Bai Marzawa asked the council to "please expedite our CUP approval, increase our capacity to 425 students so we have economies of scale to make ourselves more financially sustainable," and to remove the current permit limit that allows just seven events per year. Marzawa said the school serves students with learning differences and provides services not widely available in other local schools.
Speakers said the school has met with the city's transportation manager and active neighbors to pursue traffic and safety solutions and has added a residency-priority clause in its enrollment contract when applicants are otherwise equal.
Discussion and next steps: Council did not vote on the school's requests at the Oct. 21 meeting. Staff and the council heard the public statements during oral communications and at later agenda items the council directed staff to consider procedural questions on other items. Tessellations representatives left flyers with the city clerk and invited council members to their international festival on Oct. 30.
Ending: The school asked the council to accelerate the CUP renewal, expand capacity and remove event limits; council members acknowledged the requests and said staff would follow up through the formal permitting process.
