More than $1 million in state matching funds and leftover
restricted facilities funds was spent by the Morgan Hill School
District this summer in modernizing and maintaining its school
sites. Demolishing buildings and installing playgrounds are just
two examples of the varied activities of construction crews around
district schools this summer.
More than $1 million in state matching funds and leftover restricted facilities funds was spent by the Morgan Hill School District this summer in modernizing and maintaining its school sites. Demolishing buildings and installing playgrounds are just two examples of the varied activities of construction crews around district schools this summer.
“There have been a few problems, but overall the summer work has been very successful, staying on schedule and within budget,” district Director of Construction and Modernization Al Solis said Thursday. “There have been minor change orders and very little changes.”
Three schools – Burnett Elementary, San Martin/Gwinn Elementary and Machado Elementary – qualified two years ago to receive state matching funds for renovations and improvements. If the district had not accepted bids to move forward with the work by June 18, the money would have been lost. The state match of 80/20 is one the district is not likely to see again, due to the state budget deficit. A recent round of matching grants was a 60/40 match.
Los Paseos Elementary in south San Jose also benefitted by the matching funds. In the consolidation last year of Los Paseos and Encinal Elementary in the northern end of the district, the district decided to modernize Los Paseos. Encinal is now used by the Charter School of Morgan Hill,
A new multi-purpose room is also needed to accommodate the larger Los Paseos population.
Work on the new facility could begin in September, Solis said.
“We’ve been doing some of the ground work in the summer,” he said. “Things such as verifying the budgets, and we selected a construction management firm for the project … Approximately a month ago, we decided to push (the bidding) toward the end of summer, because we think we will get much more response this way. And, we are looking at a budget that’s extremely tight.”
Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini said that a community meeting was held recently in conjunction with the City of San Jose to discuss uses of the new facility. The city is sharing the cost of the facility with the district.
“The meeting last Monday night was sponsored by the City of San Jose, and (councilman) Forrest Williams was there,” she said. “Many of our teachers were there, and (Los Paseos Principal) Bob Davis was there.
About 40 people attended the meeting.
Construction crews were busy on the other end of the district as well, in San Martin south of Morgan Hill.
“At San Martin/Gwinn Elementary, we had roughly a $314,000 contract to do the playground installation, the infrastructure around the playground; the Home and School Club bought the equipment and paid for the installation,” said Solis. “Everything has been done to date.”
The problem, he said, has been the landscape area to be created between the San Martin and the Gwinn schools, where there is a road that has been closed off. Plans included a lawn, sidewalks and a bus turnaround to connect the two schools.
The majority of the work has been done, but the sod still needs to be laid down, and workers are two to three weeks away from that, Solis said. The subcontractor had manpower problems, he said, and now workers are working 10-hour days six days a week to try to catch up, but if the work is not completed by the time school opens on Aug. 24, the area will be cordoned off while it is completed.
Burnett Elementary also received a makeover, with carpeting and some new electrical fixtures.
“Burnett is right on schedule,” said Solis. “We did a preliminary walk through last Tuesday, and spotted a problem with the carpet; the contractor reacted almost immediately, and five or six rooms were re-carpeted. It’s ready for inspection. The architect should be going through the punch list. It’ll be ready right on schedule. On top of that, we accelerated the completion of the administrative building, which should be ready this Saturday.”
Britton Middle was the site of some demolition in July, as eight portable buildings, which had seen years of use and were deemed uninhabitable, were destroyed.
“Britton was great,” said Solis. “We had plenty of time to complete this project … Now we are waiting to complete filling in the area and capping it off … The difficulty is there was a strike, with Granite Construction … that stopped work for about a week. We have about a week’s work of work left, which hopefully we’ll get to next week. It’s possible it will all be completed before school begins; if not, we’ll have to cordon off the area.”
Other schools in the district have had minor maintenance work done.
Tognazzini said rock work was completed at the front of Martin Murphy Middle, in an area that formerly grew ice plant, which she said was difficult to maintain given limited resources. Live Oak High, too, had an area that needed a lot of attention. It was a high traffic area that tended to retain water; the area has now been replaced with a concrete pad and sidewalks.
Other schools have benefitted from landscaping spruce-ups, including tree trimming, at Burnett and El Toro elementaries.
