Palm tree goes into extra innings

It's a classic 'facepalm' situation, with a tropical twist.

For the second time in less than a month, a beloved local tree living on a school campus has been saved from the chipper.

Remember 'Save the Flowery tree' from a few weeks ago?

Well, this time it's a palm tree at the Sonoma Charter School – smack dab in the middle of the K-8 campus's soon-to-be upgraded athletic area.

According to SCS Principal Kevin Kassebaum, the school will continue to make do with the large palm, despite its prominent position in center field. As of last Thursday, an online petition had gathered just over 150 signatures in protest of the tree's alleged destruction, though Kassebaum said at that time that no petition had been presented to school officials.

'I hear there's a petition,' said Kassebaum, 'but I haven't seen it and, as of today, no one has turned anything in or approached the school.'

Kassebaum acknowledges that the situation mirrors what happened recently at Flowery Elementary School less than a half-mile away. In early May, Flowery teachers and parents circulated an online petition to save an oak tree situated in an area planned for the school's redesigned parking lot.

After a swift response from the community and district officials, and the Flowery oak was, for the time being, spared. The Sonoma Valley Unified School District board agreed to give up four parking spaces in exchange for keeping the tree.

The situation at Sonoma Charter School, Kassebaum cautions, is a bit different.

'We have been considering moving it,' he says, of the towering palm tree that has long been a resident of the school's dusty play area. 'But no decision was made to do so.

Continued Kassebaum: 'Look, our options are these. We can leave it where it is, we can relocate it to another spot, or we can remove it completely. And right now, I can say very clearly, there is no plan to remove the tree. It will remain right where it has been for years. In center field.'

According to Kassebaum, the reason for considering relocating the tree is the palm's problematic placement smack in the pathway of pop flies and scampering outfielders. Also to consider are the landscaping difficulties the tree would incur once the school's sports-and-play areas are refurbished this summer – part of a crucial space-sharing agreement with nonprofit affordable housing developer MidPen Housing. MidPen is nearing completion of the Fetters Apartments, a long-awaited affordable housing complex being built adjacent to the Charter School.

'The athletic field is going to be upgraded as part of the mixed-use development we have with MidPen,' Kassebaum says. 'In this agreement, they are going to give us new sod grass out on the playing field, a new baseball backstop, a new basketball court, a new running track, and some other improvements. In exchange, the residents of the apartments will have access to our playing areas and athletic fields – but only after school hours and on weekends.'

Adds Kassebaum, 'MidPen has been a great partner in all of this. I have no idea how much all of those improvements are going to cost, but it's definitely going to be more than the school could ever afford on its own. This is a good thing for the school, without a doubt.'

The tree conversation, he allows, has sparked some debate about the importance of teaching respect for nature. That's a concept the school tries to affirm, says Kassebaum. The school even has a pledge which goes: 'I pledge allegiance to the world, to cherish every living thing, to care for Earth and sea and air, for peace and freedom everywhere.'

Palm supporter Patti Moore, creator of the save-the-palm petition, has been referencing the school pledge, along with shout-outs to Dr. Seuss and 'The Lorax,' in calling for the tree to remain where it is.

'That tree has been in the field since the school began, and it was not an impediment to my children's love of learning, nor their love of sports,' she wrote in support of the online petition. 'In fact, I believe it helped. My son, who went to the Charter School for nine years, said he always wondered how many balls and other things would fall out of the tree if they could shake it!'

Kassebaum says that the petition, when it is delivered, will definitely be considered should the issue of moving the tree ever come up again in the future.

As for MidPen, which will have the task of laying sod around the palm tree beginning shortly after school lets out in June, the nonprofit's representatives say that removal of the tree has never been part of their plan.

'The palm tree within the playground is to remain in place,' says Scott Johnson, of MidPen Housing, who is overseeing the construction project. 'Consistent with our project's approved building plans, the playground palm tree was always identified as 'to remain.''

Contact David at david.templeton@sonomanews.com.