During a special school board meeting Monday to review
information on construction management firms for Sobrato High
School, some trustees expressed reservations about building the new
high school at all.
During a special school board meeting Monday to review information on construction management firms for Sobrato High School, some trustees expressed reservations about building the new high school at all.
Newly elected Trustee Shellé Thomas raised the question some members of the community have asked during public comment sessions at other meetings: Does the district need a second high school, considering declining enrollment, and can the district afford to build Sobrato?
“Those are good questions,” said Board President Tom Kinoshita, who was re-elected in the November election. “But we need to focus on construction management firms at this point … We can get more into details at another time.”
Thomas emphasized that the current financial status of the district would be an important consideration in going forward with Sobrato.
“I want to be able to substantiate what we have to pay, what has been paid,” she said. “I know from being newly elected, from going through the campaign process, that there are a lot of questions in the community. We need to understand the ramifications of building a second high school.”
Amina Khemici, another new trustee, concurred.
“My concern is, with the (state) budget cuts, ‘Can we afford this?’” Khemici said.
The one comment from the public during the meeting came from Harlan Warthan, a long-time board watcher. He referred to a skydiving term, terminal velocity, which is the point at which the parachute will be ripped from the skydiver’s back even if the ripcord is pulled, in other words, the point of no return. Warthan advised the board to terminate its contract with Jacobs.
“I’d like to suggest that the board is fast approaching terminal velocity as it considers Jacobs and Sobrato High School,” he said. “You still have the opportunity to pull the ripcord. Another bad decision on your part could be financially terminal to this district.”
The original intent of the meeting was to present information to board members about the two main contenders to be the construction management firm for Sobrato High School.
Jacobs Facilities., Inc., based in Pasadena, and San Jose-based Turner Construction Company are being considered for the job.
“I would recommend that you (trustees) begin an interview process (with the two companies) so that you can address specifics with them,” said James Black, an independent consultant based in Los Altos and hired by the district to create a comparison of the two firms. “Then you can take into consideration certain factors: cost could be a factor in your decision, relationship could be a factor, experience could be a factor.”
Black prepared a spreadsheet proposal comparison for the board based on figures he was given from the companies. He used four columns: Jacobs under the existing Amendment 2 of their current contract; Jacobs under proposed Amendment 5 to their current contract; Jacobs with a “CM (construction manager) at Risk” contract; and Turner with a “CM at Risk” contract.
The spreadsheet compared the four situations under five headings: construction management costs; construction costs; architectural design costs; total MHUSD project costs; and total possible costs.
Under total possible costs, the Jacobs/Amendment 2 option equals $73,332,815; the Jacobs/Amendment 5 option equals $73,020,957; the Jacobs/CM at Risk option equals $73,986,487; and the Turner option equals $71,826,283.
Turner is a South Bay company that has been building schools in the area for more than a decade. Jacobs’ first experience with school construction was in building Barrett Elementary, which opened its doors for the 2001-2002 school year, one year late and 60 percent over budget.
Jacobs has also completed renovations at Live Oak High and is currently doing site preparation work for Sobrato. Bids for the majority of the renovations and all of the site preparation work have been under budget. The company also created the design for Sobrato high school and is the architect-of-record for the project.
Newly elected Trustees Mike Hickey, Khemici and Thomas requested the special meeting to learn more about Jacobs and Turner and construction management firms in general.
The board faced the selection of a firm at its Dec. 9 meeting, the first meeting for the new trustees, but tabled the issue, citing the need for more information.
The postponement will not delay the completion of the project if a decision is made by the beginning of February, according to representatives from both Turner and Jacobs.
“I really had hoped for more of a workshop,” Thomas said Monday. “I appreciate all you gentlemen (from Jacobs and Turner) coming tonight to present us with information and answer questions. However, I wanted to hear more about our financial situation. We have a fiscal responsibility to the community.”
Trustee Jan Masuda, who is past president of the board, said a staff report would be helpful.
“I think what you are saying is that what we need at this point is a report indicating expenses … basically how much money is still in the kitty, if you will, to build it (Sobrato), to staff it, to maintain it,” she said.
Midway through his second term, Trustee Del Foster has participated in making decisions about the second high school since the beginning of the project.
“I think we have a learning curve problem here,” he said Monday during the discussion. “These questions have been answered in reports over the last year or so. The issues have already been raised … If enrollment drops, we look at building a portion of the school … My suggestion is we follow Jan’s suggestion and have the staff prepare a report … The operating costs issue has been raised several times.”
Masuda said perhaps all of the board members and the community would benefit from a review of past actions and discussions.
“Maybe we could bring back staff reports, not only for the new board members but also because it has been a long time since we’ve informed the community,” she said.
The board agreed to direct staff to prepare a status report and to convene a committee, with Trustee George Panos, who is serving as board vice president, as chairman. The committee, which will include two other board members and several district staff members, will establish criteria to rate Jacobs and Turner and then interview representatives from each firm.
As of Thursday, committee members are: Panos, Hickey, Thomas, Black, Live Oak Co-principal Rich Knapp, Superintendent Carolyn McKennan and Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Branco.
The board also agreed to hold another special meeting, titled “facilities planning,” on Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. to discuss the recommendations of the committee.
The board will next meet for its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the district office, 15600 Concord Circle. Details: 201-6023.
