The Shallot offered $85,000,000 to Washington Central Unified Union School District (WCUUSD) to buy the U-32 high school and the land and the ability to control the contracts of everyone that works there. The Shallot also offered $216,000,000 for control of the whole district. While WCUUSD wasn’t receptive to the idea, they were forced to cede control of the district because of the Albany Super Smart Student Surveying Expert Technicians (ASSSSET) team resurrecting the land in a manner that has placed it under The Shallot’s control.
A hostile takeover through survey was deemed necessary and the ASSSSET team made the two districts contiguous after a careful examination of who really owned the land. While it may look like the line passing between the two areas is just an arbitrary straight line, the leader of the ASSSSET team, Simon Thibault, was quoted as saying “We had to curve that thing just a smidge so that we could avoid Greensboro, because of tax reasons.” He later said that he was very proud of his team as “Like none of us can drive on paved roads, in cars.” While The Shallot doesn’t support underage driving, no matter the type of road, a member of the legal team has said that the statute of “It’s only illegal if you get caught,” was applicable to this situation.
One consequence for the taxpayers of U-32’s district because of this takeover is that they will not be receiving checks that would have been distributed if The Shallot had simply been able to purchase the district outright. Instead they will still pay taxes, but they will get no representation on any of the district boards, or on any hiring committees. They also will not have control over whether their former school gets shut down if The Shallot finds it would be more cost efficient to do so. For now the U-32 school board will still be allowed to meet on school property even though their votes will just be resolutions. They also will have no control over monetary policy or staffing.
The taxpayers of WCUUSD will still have most of their money go to the school, but a portion will have to be taken as an assessment for the administrative costs associated with managing the district. The taxpayers also won’t be able to vote on the school budget or the amount of the assessment as the re-surveying only took the actual land that the school sits on.
There are plans in the future to possibly subdivide some of the forested land that the school sits on to build condominiums that will sell for over a million dollars a piece. The forest will be clear cut to make a profit off of the lumber first in 2027 and then construction will start in 2028 with the first condos being for sale in 2031.
