by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | December 22, 2025
VALLEJO – A plan to close Nebraska Street during school hours is nearing completion, as the city’s public works department is slated to install 40-foot pipe gates near the Vallejo Plunge Pool parking lot to keep students and staff safe at Vallejo High School during school hours.
The gates will be used to keep car traffic from flowing during school hours between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Interim Public Works Director Oscar Alcantar gave the update during the December 11 meeting of the 2×2 Committee – which gets its name from having two city council members and two school board members who meet to discuss issues which affect both agencies.
Alcantar said the city will perform the work after rejecting two bids from fence companies. It will cost Vallejo between $10,000 to $12,000 to install the gates while the companies gave quotes of $20,000/per gate and $13,000/per cate, respectively.
Alcantar said his office was checking with the City Attorney’s Office on identifying the funding sources for the work. Once the funding is approved, it will take about three weeks to install the gates, and it would be up to the school district to open and close the gates.
“Depending on the funding, it could go rather quick, and hopefully we can start 2026 with being pro-active and much safer during the school day,” said Vallejo school board Trustee John Fox, who serves as chair of the 2×2 Committee.
Along with Fox, school board President Glenn Amboy, Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce, and Councilman Diosdado “Jr.” Matulac serve on the committee.
Earlier this year, the city added calming measures to the street including traffic cushions/speed humps, signage, and advanced warning signs about the speed humps to improve safety.
Closing Nebraska Street during school hours has been an issue that various iterations of the school board has grappled with over the past decade. During the 2015 school year, the board expressed frustrations with ice cream trucks which parked along Nebraska Street. Officials at the time worried about students running into the street to access the ice cream trucks and the trucks preventing drivers from see students crossing the street.
Committee expresses support for possible repurposing school sites
The committee held a brief discussion on the value of possibly repurposing several school sites as the school district grapples with declining enrollment. School board Trustee John Fox said he attended a California School Board Association conference in which the topic of repurposing former school sites was discussed.
He said that the former school sites could be used as workforce housing for police, firefighters and educators.
“Bring in more police, or more fire, or more educators, to have a place that is more affordable, since you have the empty sites,” Fox said.
Fox pointed out that changing the zoning from education sites to housing could be an issue, which caused Councilman Diosdado “Jr.” Matulac to offer starting a discussion with the city’s planning department.
“I think that speaks to the larger picture of the workforce model in housing that is needed,” Matulac said. “And affordable housing, for that fact, for our workforce to keep them not only local but stay here in the city.”
Matulac offered another possible use, suggesting the school sites could be used as warming centers for the unsheltered.
Mayor Andrea Sorce appeared to be energized by the possible repurposing saying she’d like the committee to agendize the topic for future discussion.
“As the school district goes through horribly stressful experience, and stressful times of cutting and closing schools, how do we all come together as a community and turn this into an opportunity and turn this into something positive,” Sorce asked from the dais.
She referenced the Franklin Middle School and Beverly Hills Elementary School sites as positive examples of repurposing. The Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD) is leasing the Franklin site as a location for recreational programs. GVRD received a $7 million state grant from the California State Parks Office of Grants and Local Services to fund updating the campus, located at 501 Starr Ave, which closed in 2020 due to low student enrollment.
GVRD is proposing to build a recreation park, which will include a new turf field, multi-use open space, a playground, new pathways, pickleball and basketball courts, parking lot and picnic area, the Vallejo Times-Herald reported in October 2023.
Meanwhile, First 5 Solano purchased the Beverly Hills site, transforming it into an early learning center.
Both school board President Glenn Amboy and Fox expressed sadness about their then-upcoming task of shuttering schools.
“We understand the gravity of the work that is ahead of us,” Amboy said during the December 11 committee meeting. “A lot of us are unable to sleep, because we are in such dire straits, in so many ways, it’s going to affect a lot of people.”
Fox said the school board didn’t want to close schools or make cuts, but declining enrollment is not only commonplace in the district but it is taking place in the state and nation.
“When your schools are only 40% full, you have to right-size your district to live within your means,” Fox added.
A week after the 2×2 meeting, the full Vallejo school board voted on December 17 to close Pennycook, Highland, and Lincoln elementary schools at the end of this school year. The closures also include the cutting of about 120 full-time employee positions, as reported by the Vallejo Sun.
Vallejo police to get new mascot
In lighter news, Vallejo Police Department Spokesman Sgt. Rashad Hollis informed the 2×2 Committee that the law enforcement agency will be getting a new mascot costume next year.
“We just got approved to get a mascot, a K-9 mascot, that’s coming. It should get here in May,” Hollis said, adding that children, older kids and adults love mascots.
“It’s just something to bring a more humanized approach to the community, to let people know that the police we’re not just here for enforcement,” he added. “We are human, we love to have a good time, and unity within the community brings out the best possibility of peace and cohesion.”
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