Sobrato High School will open with only 9th and 10th grades,
School Board trustees voted unanimously Monday, expanding to
include 11th the next year and 12th the year after.
Sobrato High School will open with only 9th and 10th grades, School Board trustees voted unanimously Monday, expanding to include 11th the next year and 12th the year after.
The board also spent some time discussing when the high school would be ready to open. The date given by the District Office has been August 2004, but at least two board members, Shellé Thomas and Amina Khemici, expressed concern that the high school could actually open that date.
The motion on the agenda included the grade configuration as well as the date, and Thomas asked for two separate motions.
“The reason I asked to open this out is that I am still not swayed,” she said Monday. “What is the quote … ‘The best laid plans of mice and men …’ We live in a real world, and our contingencies are tight at best. When we look at cost overruns at Live Oak and at Barrett (and at the time) we relied on Jacobs’ plans; now we’re relying on Jacobs’ plans again.”
Jacobs Facilities, Inc., is the firm that managed construction for Barrett Elementary and for the initial phase of Live Oak High renovation. The company also drew up the plans for Sobrato before the School Board hired Turner Construction in February to take over.
Jacobs and the district are in arbitration over terms of a possible contract settlement.
Trustee Del Foster made a motion that stated the intent of the Board to open the school in August 2004.
“I think we have to be realistic,” he said. “I think we have to aim for that. I’m well aware of possible construction delays, but I think we have to have something to aim for.”
Trustee George Panos said he didn’t think the board vote on the date was really necessary.
“We have a clear direction, we’ve had a clear direction,” he said. “This is not something new.”
Al Solis, director of modernization/construction for the district, said that he felt comfortable with August 2004 as the opening date.
“The rainy season, if it is a really bad one, is the only impact that could hurt us,” he said.
Solis has said the classroom and administration buildings will be ready for school to start, possibly even in early August so the teachers could have some preparation time. He said the school will be completed by November 2004.
The board voted 5-2, Thomas and Khemici voting against, to keep August 2004 as the intended opening date.
Live Oak High Principal Nancy Serigstad said on Thursday she thinks the grade configuration decision and the opening date decision are good ones.
“To open the school with 9th and 10th graders, that’s the best way to do it,” she said. “I have visited many schools that were opened in that way. Unless you’re shutting down the other school completely, then it just makes sense. It is the least disruptive and the most positive way for students to build their new school community.”
The decision on the date means other decisions can now be made, said Serigstad.
“This will kick-start us now,” she said. “There was a lot of ambiguity before, and now we have something to work towards.”
Trustees also voted unanimously to approve five construction contracts totaling $5,414,114.
The bids were awarded to Crusader Fence Co. for chain link fencing ($399,439), Jensen Corporation for athletic fields and landscape ($3,675,460), BT Mancini for carpet and resilient flooring ($360,009), European Hardwood Floors for wood flooring ($285,206) and Allied Fire Protection for fire protection ($694,000).
Several of the bids came in under the proposed budget, including the fencing, the carpet and flooring and the wood flooring. The fire protection and the fields and landscaping came in over the proposed budget.
Solis said only one bid was received for the fencing, but all of the other projects received two or more bids. The bid for painting is still pending because the bids were incomplete.
The trustees voted to create a temporary position, assistant construction manager, to be paid from bond funds during construction of the high school.
Former Live Oak High Principal Rich Knapp was named Sobrato principal earlier this year after sharing co-principalship with Nancy Serigstad while overseeing construction.
