Two new school remodeling and construction projects will be
underway within the next two years, as the Morgan Hill Unified
School District takes advantage of state funding and insurance
reimbursement to refurbish parts of the two campuses.
Morgan Hill – Two new school remodeling and construction projects will be underway within the next two years, as the Morgan Hill Unified School District takes advantage of state funding and insurance reimbursement to refurbish parts of the two campuses.
Morgan Hill School Board trustees heard during their Jan. 30 meeting plans by district staff to use insurance money to build a combined 4,000-square-foot boys’ and girls’ locker room complex at Britton Middle School. The new construction would replace the girls’ locker room, which was damaged by fire in May, and the boys’ locker room, which needs renovating.
Trustees voted 5-2, with Kathy Sullivan and Julia Hover-Smoot voting against, during their Jan. 30 meeting at district headquarters to delay the vote on the combined locker room until the meeting Tuesday night. The reason for the delay was to give trustees an opportunity to digest the information, but mainly to give the public the opportunity to comment.
There was only one comment, according to Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini, and the person making the comment urged the district to move forward quickly with the project.
The new locker room is expected to be completed by August 2008. Currently, students are using portables and the run-down boys’ locker room.
The district’s insurance company is expected to pay to replace the burned 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, facility design, engineering, testing, inspection, bidding and construction management.
Trustees also voted Tuesday night to approve Bunton Clifford Associates, Inc., as the architect for the modernization design for Martin Murphy Middle School.
The school is more than 25 years, and it qualifies for state grants to be used for modernization. The school needs refurbishing in general, as well as work on the heating and air system. District staff say they hope to have the school’s design and modernization budget developed by the end of this year, with the actual work beginning some time around the middle of 2008.
Some Martin Murphy teachers attended the board meeting and told trustees about conditions at the school. Lillian Beltran read a statement prepared by the teachers that said the school was without heat twice for long periods of time this winter and has problems with roaches, mice and ants.
The architect selected by the board will draw up a conceptual design for the renovation; once the design is complete, priority lists for the different needs identified by school and district staff and budget estimates will be prepared and presented to the board.
