With 18 weeks to go until opening day, Morgan Hill School Board
trustees approved the purchase of furniture, fixtures and equipment
(FFE) and equipment for fall athletics for the new Sobrato
High.
With 18 weeks to go until opening day, Morgan Hill School Board trustees approved the purchase of furniture, fixtures and equipment (FFE) and equipment for fall athletics for the new Sobrato High.
The nearly $80 million school, located on Burnett Avenue in an area that is being annexed by the City of Morgan Hill, is scheduled to open in August for 9th and 10th grade students.
Trustees last week unanimously approved a bid of $1,755,822.17 by School Specialty to provide: Desks and chairs; all band equipment, except uniforms; and equipment to outfit every classroom, except a specialized science classroom, which will be furnished through a grant, according to Sobrato Principal Rich Knapp.
The FFE does not include PE equipment, Knapp told trustees. That equipment will come out of a separate account.
“You have $3.4 million in the budget,” Trustee Shelle Thomas said. “What is left to purchase with the remaining money?”
Knapp said that technology, two seasons of sports equipment and band uniforms remain.
Trustees also approved with a 4-2 vote a bid of $87,533.73 by Athletic Supply of California for fall athletic equipment.
Trustees Amina Khemici and Thomas voted no.
The company was the only company to submit a bid of the seven solicited.
“Many of the bidders were concerned about the clarity of the specifications,” Knapp told trustees. They don’t want to put themselves at risk.”
Knapp said bidders were concerned because there were no specifications about height of the letters and numbers on the jerseys, for example, or fabric weight.
Trustee Mike Hickey said he had received calls from some of the prospective bidders.
“Because they (proposal packages) were not broken down into smaller parts,” he said.
Knapp told trustees this bid package was approximately $13,000 under projections, with some special equipment still to purchase, such as some field hockey equipment.
Thomas told Knapp she was concerned because this included equipment for football, cross country, tennis, volleyball, water polo, field hockey and girls golf, and she didn’t know there were students signed up for all these sports.
“Looking at the student surveys, what are we basing this on,” she asked. “Did we just divide Live Oak (teams) in half, or what are we basing this on?”
Knapp said this start up order will have to provide for future teams.
“Not half, because this is your varsity, your junior varsity, this is all your teams,” he said. “If you don’t purchase the equipment now, you won’t have the money later.”
The same applies for the FFE purchase, Knapp said: Even though the school will be opening with only two grade levels, equipment to furnish all the classrooms for all grades has to be purchased from the start-up money.
Thomas said she is concerned about equality between Sobrato and Live Oak.
“What I’m concerned about goes back to parity and equity,” she said. “Knowing what (Live Oak) parents have to pay for, and seeing this equipment list … seeing that we have jackets, sweats, things that parents have paid for (at Live Oak), boosters have paid for, shouldn’t this fall on the coach that’s fielding the team? I can see a lot of contention between the two teams.”
Knapp said that although there is an athletic booster club for Sobrato, and they are looking for ways to fundraise, they don’t have the money now to provide the support that Live Oak’s boosters do.
