22 thoughts on “Picasso Preschool Is Up for Sale. Wouldn’t That Space Make a Great GCSD Community Center?”

1. Picasso preschool is too important to coastside families to lose. The pandemic showed us what shutting down childcare does to women in the workforce, it erases us, and in this economy, single income households are not possible. There are not enough childcare spots as it is, and losing another would force young families out of the coast.

2. It is absurd to think this is even a possibility. Closing an established preschool when all other preschools on the coast have a 2-3 year wait-list?! This makes no sense. There are definitely other spaces on the coast for a community center. Picasso NEEDS to remain a school

3. I normally stay out of politics but this one hits too close to home (I’m a full time pediatric registered nurse with a husband in healthcare and two young children- ages 3.5 yrs old and 12 weeks old). And I’m not alone, about 70% of people living in El Granda work and there are about 235 kids under the age of 5 (www.census.gov). I, like many in El Granda am in desperate need of childcare, and hope our community supports those with early start educational programs. I appreciate the Coastside Buzz bringing awareness to public agencies processes and events, as I am a novice in this arena. With that said, maybe someone more verse in public affairs could answer a few questions, like who proposed the decision to remove a center for early education of our children, and replace it with a community center (likely to be filled with wasteful paper resources that could easily be found online, sparsely attended mid day Zumba classes or a rudimentary course on how to use your cell phone)? Do our elected city officials have our best interest at heart? Because this decision is clearly not in favor of families/ children on the coast. Rather a financially suspicious act to fund their own interests. I wonder if those making these decisions had children or grandchildren of their own in jeopardy of being displaced, there might be a decision to EXPAND and REPAIR the current building to a state of the art facility?
   My final two cents, not only is this an irresponsible decision but the traffic, oh the traffic this will bring. Is there a plan to manage this increased traffic flow to this area? I urge others to voice their opinions, even if it’s for a community center. I’d really like to hear the other side of this argument…

4. Preschool is the stepping stone for our children’s future! With very limited preschools already in the area taking away Picasso would be a mistake!! El granada and the greater area is a family town!! However, we are already limited to preschools with incredibly large waitlists! Our community needs this preschool to continue and stay open!

5. This is irresponsible journalism. If someone wants to buy the business at market value – what it’s listed for – then that’s one thing. But turning it into a “community center” would cause the business owner to lose her livelihood as it is a separate purchase from the building. From the comments, you can see the school and parent community is passionate about keeping the school open as a preschool the north coast can’t afford to lose.

   1. It is not journalism at all. Nor is it irresponsible. I copied and pasted a public notice from GCSD with a question. I am signed up for GCSD emails and I got an email yesterday afternoon from them announcing a closed session meeting for Friday and it indicated it was about 480 Ave Alhambra.

      I called GCSD board person Barbara Dye and she said that there was an offer on the table, not theirs. So, she encouraged me to post a notification on Coastside Buzz of this meeting so that the public would have an opportunity to give the GCSD board their comments at the beginning of the meeting.

      Did you know there was a closed session meeting this evening?

      Please let the board know what you think. This is public process at its best.

      1. You editorialized it with the title “ Wouldn’t That Space Make a Great GCSD Community Center?” That implies you are enthusiastic favor of making that space a community center. If you had simply posted the notice stating “ Picasso Preschool Is Up for Sale. PUBLIC INPUT NEEDED” it would have been received much more favorably than your endorsement of losing a valued asset to the North Coast.

         1. Thanks for your reply, Karen. I appreciate you comment.

            Your title is also good. You did make me think and I reposted without the exclamation mark.

            Coastside Buzz has been working for 6 years to make people aware of events, give them the information and tools to understand the process and mechanisms of public agencies. Barbara and GCSD want public discourse on everything, so I am glad to see 34 shares at the bottom of the post. Getting people into the room so their voice is heard, is Coastside Buzz’s number one goal: Click, Learn, Think, Act…

            I’m curious, did you know there was a closed session meeting until you saw it on my website?

            1. What is meeting code?

            2. I’ve been trying to join as well. I did not see the meeting ID listed.

            3. Agreed. The title implies bias and does not take into account input from the community, it could have been worded better. But to answer your question Michelle, no; a lot of people did not know about this closed session without your post on Coastside Buzz, thank you. It seems even some of the city officials did not expect anyone to attend and seemed taken off guard by the additional zoom attendees.

6. The property has been on the market since March and evidently no viable preschool offers have been made.

7. We echo the sentiments and the voices of the previous comments snd urge you to consider a different location for a community center in El Granada. Picasso Preschool is one of the only center-based early educational development centers on the coast and is essential to our community and working parents as we emerge from the pandemic. Our daughter has received an exceptional education over the last 3 years and has been pivotal to our return to work over the last year when other schools in our area were virtual. Please reconsider.

8. We are very grateful for Picasso Pre-school on the coast and truly appreciate the time, care and learning our daughter experienced for the past 2+ years. It has been an absolute and essential dependence for the well being of our family and I imagine for others as well.

   We fully support keeping the Picasso Pre-school as is, in the same location and continuing the vital service it provides to the budding community of next generation.

   We respectfully urge that you reconsider.

9. Please think of all of the families with young children on the coast and the lack of options for preschool locations. This community needs Picasso Preschool to stay!

10. The coastside NEEDS this pre-school. They are not many options for families here and Picasso has been a great place for our child’s most formative years. Please consider having the community center at a different location in El Granada. Picasso is a vital part of the community and loosing a preschool would be detrimental to us all. The positive future of this amazing coastside community depends on a place like Picasso. Please reconsider.

11. Picasso must remain as a preschool. It is the only center-based preschool north of HMB and is truly a special place. This preschool program and this location is crucial for parents of young children in El Granada and surrounding neighborhoods. We have so few resources already, please consider another location for the community center.

12. Absolutely NOT!!! Picasso preschool is the only center based preschool north of Half Moon Bay on the coast. It is NOT in the community’s best interest to remove the only preschool. As a pediatrician and a mother of 2 young boys, I wholeheartedly oppose this idea. Our children deserve to have preschool and we know how important early learning is for young minds!

13. Families with young kids NEED Picasso to stay as a preschool. There are so few preschool options on the coast, and several have long waitlists that leave a lot of families scrambling.

14. It’s so important to have preschool options for our local kiddos on the coastside. As it is, full-time working parents are struggling to find quality care/education for their young children…and preschool is essential to academic success. My daughter has had an amazing experience there and I would hate to see it go.

15. It is not in our community’s best interest to remove one of the few full time preschool options for families. Picasso needs to stay.

16. Absolutely not. Picasso preschool needs to be saved! There are many families on the coast, and many working parents with little to no options for child care. Picasso is one of the only full time programs on the Coastside. Not to mention it’s a phenomenal program with amazing teachers. Please do not make this into a community center! We need to put our children first and support families on the coast.

Comments are closed.