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Vaughn Wolfe stated that he comes through the business park to come to the existing <br />facility and will also come to the new facility assuming the conditional use permit is <br />approved. He indicated that he is an engineer and his wife is from China; her wife's <br />entire family is college-educated. He noted that today's newspaper included an article <br />about competing math scores and that it is important to them that their son receive <br />Mandarin Chinese training and advanced math. He stated that the only place their son <br />will receive advanced math classes is in the GATE program or at Little Ivy League. He <br />noted that China educates more English-speaking engineers than the United States and <br />England put together. He stated that the children need to learn how to speak, read, and <br />write Chinese and do advanced math, and that there is nowhere else they can get it <br />other than at Little Ivy League. He, therefore, requested the Commission to approve the <br />application. <br />Leon Donn stated that he and his wife work in the South Bay, have two children aged <br />5 and 8 years who have attended Ivy League for over two years. He indicated that it is <br />important for their children to be able to attend the program when school lets out to be <br />able to increase their education and receive education in Chinese language and culture. <br />He indicated that his older is son now speaks fluent Chinese and that they are actually <br />leaving for China tomorrow. With respect to working parents and the assumption that <br />the facility must be a daycare, he begged to differ and indicated that there are many <br />daycare facilities in the area, but they have not found one single program like Little Ivy <br />League for language enrichment and Chinese training. He encouraged the Commission <br />to approve the application. <br />Gary Kumfert stated that he never had an opportunity to master the German language <br />and was never able to speak with his grandparents. He noted that he married a <br />Chinese immigrant, and his daughter is now able to speak with her grandparents, which <br />is very important to him. He voiced support for the school's growth and education and <br />spoke of his experiences with day care, noting that he was told one day that he could <br />not pick up his daughter in the middle of the session because she was in class, which <br />he felt was great. He asked the Commission to approve the request as it truly serves <br />families and children. <br />Qizhi Chen stated that he just moved to Pleasanton last December and that he loves <br />the City of Pleasanton. He indicated that his five-year old daughter loves Little Ivy <br />League School and has learned a lot of Chinese there. He stated that he supported <br />approval of the school. <br />Kevin Yip stated that his wife works in Hacienda Business Park and spoke of his desire <br />for his children to speak and learn Chinese. He noted that he registered them for a <br />weekend Chinese school that they did not like; he then learned about Ivy League <br />School and registered his children there, believing that Chinese needs to be practiced <br />every day. He noted that the school has a variety and quality of classes and teachers, <br />and urged the Commission to approve the request. <br />EXCERPTS: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, December 10, 2008 Page 11 of 21 <br />