Social media sites are buzzing with a rumor that the Visalia Unified School District plans to remove one or more Valley Oak trees from the campus of Mt. Whitney High School, to make room for a new building.
Comments are of three types:
- They’re a hazard, cut them down.
- They can’t cut them down, there’s an Oak Tree Preservation ordinance in Visalia.
- Please don’t cut them down, there are so many memories of that/those tree(s)!
My response to the three comments?
- Properly maintained, oak trees are seldom a hazard. VUSD certainly has the resources to preserve the trees safely.
- The Oak Tree Preservation ordinance was changed last year. See my previous post about the change.
- The trees, as evidenced by their size, have been a part of the Mt. Whitney campus for a long time, possibly there even before the school was opened in the 1950s.
I’ve been unable to determine if the rumors are true. I can find no documentation on the VUSD website about plans for a new building on the Whitney campus. The school district has not submitted permit requests to the City of Visalia.
If the rumors are true, and VUSD does plan to remove one or more oak trees, they WILL have to apply to the city, since the revised ordinance still requires government organizations to get a permit. Whether the City will rubber stamp a request from the District for removal remains to be seen.
I’ll be watching this to see what happens. So far, it’s only rumor.
Mt. Whitney High School – Oak Tree status
July 21, 2026
Jim Reeves commentary, News, Personal Mt. Whitney High School, MWHS, Oak tree ordinance, oak trees, visalia, Visalia Unified School District, VUSD Leave a comment
On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, the Visalia Unified School District held a meeting in the Mt. Whitney High School library, regarding expansion plans for the campus. Dominate in the minds of many at the meeting was the fate of several large oak trees.
One is dedicated to the “winningest coach in Pioneer history”, Douglas P. Rudolf, with a water fountain (his mantra was “hydrate!”) and sitting area created around the large oak tree. The proposed building you see in the lower left of the image above will sit where the tree is now. The other trees seen in the first picture also stand in the proposed building’s footprint. The alumni and general community did not like that idea. VUSD held a meeting to do damage control.
The lower building is new construction. The building above it is currently the administration building (and some classrooms on the second level, at least when I went there in 1972-1976), and is slated to be demolished and a new building put in it’s place. Several other oak trees are in the construction zones.
When word got out, the uproar was immediate. School staff, the wider Visalia community, and Mt. Whitney alumni (class of ’76 for me) let it be known destruction of that one specific tree was a non-starter, and the loss of the other trees was concerning, as well. They demanded changes to the plans. VUSD sent the Superintendent to try and smooth the ruffled feathers. If his words end up being the facts, it might have worked.
Superintendent Kirk Shrum said in the meeting that the District recognized the importance of the tree(s), and every effort would be taken to protect them. Action at the next Board of Trustees meeting is to hire and pay the architect to begin designing the new buildings, including their placement on the Mt. Whitney campus. The architect will be studying the design of the building(s), utilities, and the trees when designs begin. Placement of the building(s) may be able to be adjusted to protect the trees.
The next steps are to analyze the grounds, do the environmental studies, and determine the exact features of the buildings. Staff and committees will work on the plans, and Shrum insisted the preservation of the tree(s) would be a driving focus.
But.
If they can’t make it work any other way (according to them), the trees will come down.
(Removing optimist’s hat, putting on cynic’s hat)
I hope the words spoken at the meeting are what come to pass, and the school’s newest buildings can be built without destroying these ancient giants. I’m concerned that lip-service will be paid to their preservation, and at the last possible moment it will be determined that they “have” to be removed. It would be a great loss to the community.
The Mt. Whitney Yearbook is “The Oak”. It would be a shame if there were no more of them on campus after this project is completed in four or five years.
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