The Pleasanton school board started talking over possible kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8) pathways to be implemented on the north side of the city during a workshop last week that sparked much dialogue and excitement from trustees.

The hour-long session on March 27 was deemed too short for the full overall discussion, so the board decided to continue the conversation by folding it into another workshop (set for April 10) on facilities planning and the district’s most recent enrollment report — topics that also address capacity issues in northern Pleasanton.

“I think that this is super exciting,” trustee Jamie Yee Hintzke said during the workshop last week. “I mean, this is really the next direction our school district needs to go in.”

The conversation about new educational programs comes as the board has been considering whether to open at least one new elementary school in the near future to address existing and projected overcrowding at schools on the north side of town.

No decision has been made about whether to build a new school, let alone the potential location or if it would be traditional K-5 or the district’s only K-8 campus, but the board is looking at its options.

Staff briefly presented 10 different models for specialized learning that could be implemented as part of a potential new K-8 school: LEAD (literacy, enrichment, academics and digital arts), a dual language immersion program, project-based learning, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), International Baccalaureate (IB), Montessori, an international school, STEAM (STEM subjects plus arts), a visual and performing arts academy, and a Waldorf school.