Schools in need of upgrades

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Schools in need of upgrades

West County district to decide which crumbling campuses will get

rebuilt

Contra Costa Times*

By S. Wetzel

STAFF WRITER

01/26/2008

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8086313?source=rss & nclick_check=1

Ohlone Elementary in Hercules has mice, mold and asbestos problems.

Leadership charter and Gompers high schools in Richmond share a

decrepit, seismically unsafe building with no gym.

Kennedy High students in Richmond sit in windowless classrooms

alongside buckets to catch the water that drips from a leaky roof.

All of these West Contra Costa Unified School District campuses are

in disrepair and need new facilities. But because of dwindling

funds, only one or two could end up getting money for repairs from

the district, which has less than $50 million left from

approximately $1 billion in voter-approved bond money.

District officials this week grappled over whether Ohlone,

Leadership, Kennedy, Gompers and other schools on the district's

construction to-do list should get what's left of the money.

" I think I speak for the entire board when I say if I could rebuild

every school in the district, I would in a heartbeat, " board

President Pfeifer said.

On Wednesday, district staff members provided the board with six

options for cutting schools from the reconstruction list. Ohlone,

Leadership, Gompers and Kennedy, along with Richmond College Prep

charter school, Portola Middle School in El Cerrito, Pinole Valley

High School, Dover Elementary in San Pablo and Nystrom Elementary in

Richmond, could be on the chopping block.

" There may be other combinations, and that's something we can talk

about, " said Jeff Edmison, associate superintendent for operations.

" We don't see a lot of other options unless we do something more

drastic. "

Skyrocketing construction costs have caused the district's school-

rebuilding projects to double and even triple in cost. That, coupled

with the millions in project additions, such as community kitchens

and a district-adopted high building standard, means there's little

money left for the remaining schools.

Parents and students from Leadership and Ohlone on Wednesday pleaded

with the school board to rebuild their campuses.

" These students represent a group of students that have been

overlooked and under-served, " said Soo Zee Park, director of

operations for Leadership Public Schools, referring to Leadership

and Gompers students, who share a run-down facility in Richmond's

Iron Triangle neighborhood.

Pfeifer and board members Ramsey and Madeline Kronenberg

recommended that staff members see if the district can afford to

build a campus for Ohlone, in addition to a school for Leadership at

the Nystrom Elementary and Richmond College Prep sites on Harbour

Way in Richmond. Board members also discussed cutting Kennedy --

originally slated to get about $60 million for a new school but now

scheduled to get only $8.6 million -- off the list entirely.

The board last spring promised Leadership and Gompers a $23 million

modular campus after plans to put them at Kennedy and the shuttered

Seaview Elementary campus proved unpopular. The district has already

spent hundreds of thousands on schematic plans for the site.

Board member Dave Brown suggested that instead of choosing some

campuses over others, the district scale down building standards

that have resulted in what he calls " vanity schools. " The money

could be spread further, he argued, if the district considered fewer

bells and whistles.

" Our standards have become so high that we're costing ourselves out

of the market, and some schools will never get rebuilt, " Brown said.

Board member Audrey Miles said she favored closing Portola and not

rebuilding it, which would save $45 million.

" I think our community says, 'Let's be fiscally responsible,' " Miles

said. " And building a middle school where enrollment is low is not

fiscally responsible. And I've said that before. "

District officials will likely continue the conversation in the next

month or two, and make a decision in March. Ohlone neighbors said

the decision should be easy. Staff members, parents and students at

the school have been waiting for 30 years to get a permanent campus

instead of the portable classrooms they have now.

" We've been really, really patient, " said Ann-Marie Marinakis, a

teacher at the school. " I think we're doing our part; now we'd like

you to do yours. "

Reach S. Wetzel at 510-262-2798 or at

kwetzel@....