School Board Will Hold Special Meeting Tonight On Measure K Projects

$25 million can buy a lot of dreams, but not so much reality, as it turns out. The Martinez Unified School District board will meet this evening (Thursday, Jan. 19) at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the first of three phases to renovate and upgrade district schools with Measure K bond money, and to discuss and possibly decide which projects should be funded in the first phase.

The projects in phase one include installing wireless in all the schools, and purchasing iPads and netbooks for each student. The schools will also get upgraded energy and alarm systems. Alhambra would get an upgraded heating and cooling system, hillside stabilization for the upper track, an expanded Performing Arts building, and a remodeled Commons area. Las Juntas would get a new kitchen, and the first phase of a major remodel at Briones/Vicente would take place. All of those projects will be discussed at the special meeting Thursday.

One board member, John Fuller, is hoping to use some of the money to construct a student union on the Alhambra High School campus, but several other board members are not particularly enamored with the idea.

Under Measure K, the board can ultimately sell $40 million worth of bonds, but the technology upgrades, additional classrooms, revamping entryways and investment in solar power will take most, if not all, of that money.

Fuller is not particularly fond of the idea of solar power. He abstained from voting on it at the last board meeting. Four other board members approved the $6 million installation. But he is adamant about the need for an after-school facility for the high school.

“After 3 p.m., the school is loaded with kids,” he said. “It hums. After school, the focus moves from the campus to (Knowles) field. What if we had a place set up for technology, drama, the band? Cheerleaders have no place to practice right now. It’s true, we could build out the Commons, but when the last bell rings, the kids don’t want to be on campus.”

The latest cost estimate for the project is $5.5 million, Fuller said. When asked which projects already on the list he would cut to fund the student union, he said “it’s not an either/or, I see it as an ‘and.’”

But other board members don’t see it that way.

“While John's expected outcome in proposing this project was to provide a safe place for students between the hours of 3 and 6 to continue their educational day, which is a real need at AHS, the projects as we originally envisioned them when we went out for the bond seem to be increasing in both scope and cost during the initial architectural phase,” said board member Denise Elsken. “We made a commitment to our community to use those funds for specific purposes and it is my intention to adhere as closely to those commitments as possible, while providing students with safe facilities that will be able to change with the way education may change in the future. I am not yet able to determine if we will be able to afford the Academic Performance Center as the drawings currently depict it, even though I think it is a good idea and needed.”

“I really want to focus on wants versus needs for our measure K projects,” said board member Vicki Gordon. “We have asked everyone to dream big and that has inflated some expectations. We have several patient campuses that have been making do and now is the time to really help improve their sites. Coming up with an expensive student union, when it was not on the original list, means that bond money from another area must be cut.”  

Board member Kathi McLaughlin added that she also did not support a student union on Alhambra because it was not included in the list of projects that voters approved when they voted for Measure K.

But Fuller points to the July 19, 2010 board resolution that includes the student union on the proposed list of projects. 

The board will discuss the project list at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the district headquarters, 921 Susana Street.