By the time school starts in August 2009, students at Britton
Middle School should have a new locker room facility to replace the
run-down boys’ locker room and the girls’ locker room gutted by
fire in May.
Morgan Hill – By the time school starts in August 2009, students at Britton Middle School should have a new locker room facility to replace the run-down boys’ locker room and the girls’ locker room gutted by fire in May.
Morgan Hill School Board trustees heard a proposal Tuesday night to build a joint boys-and-girls facility large enough to serve a third class of students, should the district decide to move sixth-grade students to the middle schools.
Trustees voted 5-2, with Trustees Julia Hover-Smoot and Kathy Sullivan voting no, to wait until their Feb. 13 meeting to vote on the proposal. Trustee Bart Fisher suggested, and later made the motion to delay the vote, to give the public an opportunity to respond and provide trustees with more time to consider the project.
The district’s insurance company is expected to pay to replace the burned 4,000-square-foot building, which could cost approximately $3.5 million.
District officials have proposed spending an additional $1.2 million to build the consolidated facility on the site of the former pool on campus, which has been filled in. The new 4,492-square-foot facility, which would house the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, has been estimated to cost $4.7 million. The estimate includes the costs for soil preparation, design of the facility, engineering, testing, inspection, bidding and construction management.
Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini told trustees that the money the district would have to pay for the combined locker rooms would be funded with a combination of capital facilities money and Redevaelopment Agency resources.
Cost estimates do not include the potential future refurbishing of the 46-year-old current boys’ locker room, Tognazzini added. The space could be converted into classrooms or storage space.
Britton Principal Carol Coursey said female students have been using a temporary locker room across campus from the gym. She said she would like to see work start on the new building as soon as possible.
“Parents are really on my case all the time about this,” she said. “When are we going to get this started? The parent community is very anxious for this and ready to get this started.”
Tognazzini said the two-week delay likely will not push back the projected completion date considerably, but Director of Facilities Al Solis told trustees he would feel more comfortable with an immediate approval.
Hover-Smoot said she was comfortable voting Tuesday night, as did Sullivan.
“I don’t think the community would have a problem with us improving a facility our children are using,” Sullivan said. “We have a model of funding … I think the sooner we get started, the better.”
Trustee Mike Hickey said he believed there was consensus among board members about the proposal, that Coursey could reassure the Britton parent community about the board’s intent.
“You can kind-of get the gist that we’re approving (the proposal),” he said. “I haven’t heard anyone say that they’re opposing it.”
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
