Rundown Boys’ locker room will be upgraded first
The long-awaited renovations at Live Oak High School will continue this summer, and school board trustees took the next step in the process by selecting an architect during the April 18 school board meeting.
The infamous boys’ locker room is the first priority, Live Oak High Principal Nick Boden told trustees, because of safety concerns and the number of students who use the facilities.
“If you look at the boys’ locker room, you know it’s not in, um, pristine condition,” Boden said. “It’s age, security for the students and their belongings; the equipment is run down; the piping is problematic … We run hundreds of students through that facility every day.”
Lockers inside the facility are broken, and there have been problems with mold and the plumbing.
Also due to the number of students served by the facility and its rundown condition, the Little Theater will be next in line for renovation. Some of the seats in the auditorium are broken, and the furnishings are shabby and worn.
Voters in the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s boundaries passed a construction bond on the third try in 1999 for $72.5 million. The bond was intended to provide funding for the construction of Barrett Elementary and Sobrato High School, plus renovation of Live Oak High School, once the district’s only comprehensive high school.
Barrett opened its classrooms to students and teachers in 2001, and Sobrato opened with ninth and tenth grade students in 2004. A new practice gym, library, football field and track were completed at Live Oak several years ago, as well as the renovation of several classroom buildings, but teachers and administration at the school have a laundry list of items that have yet to be checked off.
MHUSD Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini told trustees during the April 11 meeting that approximately $7 million remained to complete projects at Live Oak, but as much as an additional $10 million could be available if trustees approve a proposed refunding of the bond, something they will consider in May.
Costs for the proposed renovations are not yet available, Tognazzini said, as they will depend on schematics created by the architects.
Trustees voted unanimously to approve MVE Institutional, Inc., as the architect for the modernization of the boys’ locker room, the Little Theater and the façade of Live Oak High.
Tognazzini said other renovation projects at the school will begin when the school year ends, including replacing some student lockers, giving another classroom building a “facelift,” which includes deep cleaning and painting, and installing a video surveillance system similar to the cameras installed on the Sobrato campus.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 Ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
