Developer suing Fremont Unified over placement

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- School overcrowding is a big problem in Fremont and parents say it's hard to find placement for their children at neighborhood schools. A major developer is building 500 more homes in the Patterson Ranch Community, but it turns out there's not enough space in schools there for all the kids who will enroll. So the developer is suing the school district.

Amanda Anguelouch's three little girls all go to different schools in Fremont.

"It's the juggling with the three kids," she explained. "Three drop-offs, three pick-ups, and we didn't plan on that."

Little 6-year-old Lilia has been uprooted and transferred twice since the end of August.

"She's always been like the perfect kid," Anguelouch said. "But then we met with the teachers they said, 'You know, she's crying, she's melting down.' It's the juggling the different teachers, the different environment, the stress of me trying to shuffle everybody, I'm sure it is."

Fremont Unified School Superintendent James Morris adds, "I didn't get into the business of education to cause this hardship for families."

Dr. Morris says the overcrowding situation is at its peak.

Fremont parents worry the new Patterson Ranch Development will make the situation worse, with 500 homes going up for move in beginning early next year.

The school district has designated this new area as unassigned, meaning the children will have a seat somewhere, but no guarantee of a close neighborhood school.

Now the big developer KB Home is suing the school district, alleging the district is demanding illegal mitigation payments and using school attendance boundaries as leverage.

KB Home refused to go on camera and would only give us this statement: "The Patterson Ranch builders are simply asking the Fremont Unified School District to abide by the plan they agreed to, and signed off on, in 2010."

The superintendent says his hands are tied.

"Our current reality in the district is -- we are out of classrooms," Morris said. "We have over 2,000 students who aren't able to attend their neighborhood schools; we don't have room for additional students in our school district."

Meanwhile, moms like Anguelouch say they moved to Fremont hoping for a great education for their girls. And now she says, "I wouldn't move to Fremont! If I were moving somewhere it wouldn't be Fremont until the city council can figure this out.