There is a lot of movement going on within the Claremont Unified School District. Soon, all the district offices will be accessible at just one location.

CUSD is in the midst of a physical transition that began this week with the relocation of the Superintendent’s Office from the 2080 N. Mountain Avenue location, to the district’s Alternative Education Center at 170 W. San Jose Avenue.

The superintendent’s office is just the first of a series of moves to the Alternative Education Center that will include the district’s Business Services, Accounting offices and Human Resources office over the next couple of months.

“We’ll all be here and it’ll be great,” said Mike Bateman, CUSD Executive Director of Student Services. “We’ll have one district office and it will be a lot more accessible for people to get to and will be a one-stop shop for our families within the community. It’s a great place to be.”

The Richard S. Kirkendall Education Center on Mountain Avenue used to be the location that housed all of the district’s services. Then some offices began relocating to the Alternative Education Center a few years ago. Student Services and Special Education relocated to the San Jose Avenue location back in 2004 and the Educational Services unit moved to the Alternative Education Center 2 years ago.

In the current configuration of the Alternative Education Center, the first floor contains the Claremont Adult School main offices along with 2 classrooms. The 2nd floor features Student Services, Special Education, Special Projects and Programs as well as 4 Claremont Adult School classrooms.

Moving one level higher, the 3rd floor houses the Superintendent’s Office, Claremont Child Development Program and the CUSD board room. Educational Services, English Language Development Services, ITC Library and Technical Support Services are located within the basement of the building.

Because of the larger size of the Alternative Education Center compared to the Mountain Avenue location, the offices moving from the Kirkendall Education Center will see a significant increase in space. For instance, the new CUSD board room is twice as large in the Alternative Education Center than the current meeting room.

“There is going to be a little bit more elbow room and a bit more space for everybody,” said Jeff Shoemaker, assistant director of CUSD’s Service Center. “It’s going to be an adjustment though because the offices that are moving will be occupying the same building with our ongoing and vibrant adult school program.”

With CUSD services to be fully relocated to the San Jose Avenue site, plans are for the current Education Center to be converted into a residential vehicle/boat storage facility that will generate revenue for the district. The district will ultimately be seeking approval of the proposal by the City of Claremont within the next few months.

“We anticipate some time this fall having a decision made regarding continuing forward,” said CUSD Superintendent David Cash at the last district board meeting.

Plans are also in effect for the Alternative Education Center to be renamed once the district is fully relocated at the San Jose Avenue building. At the next board meeting on October 16, the CUSD board will vote on the new name.

According to Superintendent Cash, district board policy allows for the renaming of district schools or major facilities only under what can be classified as “extraordinary circumstances.” 

“I believe the renaming of the Alternative Education Center to the ‘Richard S. Kirkendall Center’ would meet the definition of extraordinary and that the building currently named after Dr. Kirkendall would no longer exist,” he said. “And all of the functions of the Kirkendall Center will transfer to the San Jose property.”

 

–Landus Rigsby