Pleasanton Parents Rally To ‘Save Donlon Field’

PLEASANTON, CA— What will become of Donlon Field? Concerned parents say that’s a major topic of discussion in the Val Vista Park neighborhood.

Right now, the field attached to Donlon Elementary sits untouched and unused by the school. The school district said that’s largely due to its size and safety.

“We don’t have adequate staffing or volunteers to safely use it," said Patrick Gannon, director of communications for the school district. "The size of the existing field is almost a deterrent both in having it to be used safely and not to mention the cost that it takes to maintain a field of that size.”

Pleasanton Unified School District has talked about development at Donlon for years. Plans to build an additional elementary school on some of the 20-acre site fell through after the school board’s unanimous approval of the project in 2020. A groundbreaking was supposed to happen in 2021 but never did.

Gannon attributed that to a statewide decline in enrollment and the onset of the pandemic.

“When it was decided that the plot be used for a second elementary school site it was publicly acknowledged that was the best that we could do with the resources we had available to us. So, using it to build a school wasn’t ideal to begin with.”

Moving on from that idea, the school board approved rezoning that would allow the City of Pleasanton to look into what the space could mean for the state-mandated housing update.

“As the City is not the property owner, we can't speak to how the district would use the property now or in the future," said Barbara Harb, communications manager for the City. "PUSD did ask to include this property for consideration for potential rezoning as part of the City’s housing element update but, ultimately, any decisions regarding changes to the property are up to the school district.”

Gannon said it’s too soon to make any predictions.

“The district still owns the land," said Gannon. "We haven’t agreed to do anything. Our board just voted to approve the land to be considered as part of the City’s housing element plan.”

Colleen Hake, a parent at the school, and her neighbors have a plan of their own. The group has attended numerous council meetings to share their opinion on what should happen to the field, citing scientific benefits of green space. They’ve even collected more than 800 signatures on a petition for the field.

“We are asking for a park so that the Donlon students and the community are protected from PUSD always seeing it as a piggy bank for them to use in ways that do not benefit the community or the children,” Hake said.

Their idea is to keep four acres inside the fence line for the school to use as green space and give the rest to the City for a park.

“It is heartbreaking to see fourth and fifth graders running on blacktop because the field is not maintained. Cumulative green space for children — the more they have, the less potential for mental health issues later in life, when they’re growing up, when they’re learning. It impacts them,” she said

Hake said the group got their idea when looking at other schools in the district.

“None of them have multi-story housing boxing in their green space. It shows this mounting feeling of inequity and anyone that comes on Sunday can deduce for themselves why this discrimination exists for Donlon and the Val Vista Community."

According to Gannon, nothing is going to happen anytime soon. He said if something does come to be, it’ll take years.

“There is nothing that needs to be saved at this point," he said. "We are just talking about this piece of land as part of a bigger picture of looking at the needs of our school district and community. Donlon Elementary is historically one of our most impacted schools so we certainly understand the concern of residents for anything being built there but that decision is far from being made.”

Hake and her group continue their fight. They will host an event to discuss the field this Sunday, tying into Earth Day.

“We feel like what we are asking is reasonable. We are trying to protect what we love.”