The action taken by some School Board trustees during their
special meeting June 3 has brought both grumbles and kudos from
both
“sides” of the Sobrato High debate.
The action taken by some School Board trustees during their special meeting June 3 has brought both grumbles and kudos from both “sides” of the Sobrato High debate.
The special meeting was called to award eight bids, totaling approximately $26 million, for the next step in the construction of Sobrato. Trustee Shellé Thomas made a motion to wait two weeks until the next bid package came in before awarding these bids. The motion passed 4-3.
Opponents of the high school say the school is unnecessary because of a drop in enrollment, and that money spent on building it could be better used to complete Live Oak High renovations. There are also concerns about equality between the two schools.
Supporters of the school say it is necessary, it was promised to voters who passed the bond in 1999, and, in any case, “the train has already left the station.”
“Certainly we need to make sure that we have enough money for Live Oak, but that is not why I voted the way I did,” said Trustee Jan Masuda. “I felt that we needed more of a comprehensive report at that meeting of our bottom line numbers. We need to know how much money do we have to spend on Live Oak and Sobrato, how much do we project our expenses will be and how much is not yet defined.”
Trustees Thomas, who made the motion, Mike Hickey, Amina Khemici and Masuda all voted to wait to award the bids, while Board President Tom Kinoshita and Trustees George Panos and Del Foster voted against the motion.
“What I want is a clear understanding of what the guaranteed maximum price is,” Thomas said. “(Live Oak) is an essential part of the equation, but the reason I made the motion and voted the way I did is that we don’t have a clear budget, we don’t have an understanding of how much we have spent and will need to spend.”
Sobrato Planning Principal Rich Knapp said he was disappointed in the decision.
“Of course I don’t want to see a delay, and I am concerned about the staff who were planning to move to the school,” he said. “I am concerned for the students who are looking forward to it, and their families who want to see a 9-12 configuration at the high school level. Sobrato is the way to achieve that.”
Administration concerns about the board’s lack of action on the bids last week surround a delay in the timetable for completion.
“Any delay of two weeks or a month makes the start date a concern,” said Superintendent Carolyn McKennan. “Doug Williams (of Turner Construction) articulated that very well … We are also concerned about weather delays.”
Masuda said the decision has not been made by the board about opening the school with only ninth graders, or ninth and tenth graders, as is being discussed in the community. Nor has a plan been developed to open if the school is not complete.
“I’ve been to visit a lot of schools in California, and the majority of new ones have not been complete with the opening of school,” she said. “Certainly it is a little uncomfortable, but it can be done. The bottom line is, I’m still 100 percent in favor of building Sobrato. My goal is to open in August 2004.”
McKennan said that the board has not had a discussion about which students to open the school with.
“Conventional wisdom says with new high schools, typically you don’t take your juniors and seniors because they have a connection to their current school, that you start with the ninth graders, and, in our case, the tenth graders because they also have no current connection, but the board has never given us a direction about this,” she said.
