School district looks to renovate mistakes

Marisa O’Neil

Measure A, Newport-Mesa school district’s massive, bond-funded,

multi-school renovation project, is entering its second year, and

many hope it will go smoother than the first.

When construction started on the first group of eight schools in

March of 2003 -- nearly simultaneously -- the district absorbed some

unpleasant surprises. Worse-than-anticipated termite and dry-rot

damage required extra attention. Plumbing issues meant some students

and teachers had to use portable toilets for months. Window

manufacturers dragged their feet, leaving students sitting in

classrooms with boarded-up windows on days hot enough to melt

crayons. And that was all at one school, Harbor View Elementary.

For some angry parents and staff members, it was too much too

soon.

“If anything, we were overambitious,” said Paul Reed, assistant

superintendent of business services for Newport-Mesa Unified School

District.

This time, with the second group of seven schools, they’re

staggering the start time of every project, keeping communication

lines open and trying their best to expect the unexpected.

And parents, staff and community members will be watching.

“We have had our ups and downs with the process,” said Niki

Parker, chair of the Measure A oversight committee at Kaiser

Elementary School. “We hope the district has been able to improve the

process, the scope and direction and provide more guidelines for the

next set of schools.”

Because the money for Measure A -- $110 million in local bonds and

another $63 million from the state -- is being divided between 28

schools, only the highest-priority work is being done. And some

things that need attention, such as athletic facilities and the Loats

Performing Arts Center at Newport Harbor High School, don’t fall

under the improvement umbrella. Those must be paid for separately by

the district.

Since Proposition 13 restructured school funding in California,

Reed said most money goes into instruction and programs, not to

maintaining school buildings. Without preventive measures, the

schools fell into disrepair.

“If we had been able to maintain our funding at the levels

recommended, it would have gone a long way to maintaining

facilities,” Reed said.

More confusion arose in the first group of schools about the role

each site’s oversight committee should play in the process. Their

rights and duties weren’t made clear, said Bob Rossen, chair for the

Woodland oversight committee, and members sometimes felt they were

“rubber stamping” plans they didn’t agree with.

Reed said the committees have input at the beginning of the

process, but once contractors are brought in, they can’t run the

process.

“We were the guinea pigs,” Rossen said. “There were things that

went very well and things that didn’t go well. I think as they get in

[groups of] two and three, they will improve on what they’re going to

be doing.”

And at Harbor View Elementary, where just about everything that

could go wrong did, most of the major work has been done. But, some

parents say, little incomplete things are adding up, such as no poles

to open the new windows, no intercom system and dirt patches in need

of landscaping.

So far, things are going more smoothly at Group Two school Sonora

Elementary, parent Katrina Foley said.

“There’s been no controversy,” Foley said. “I think we benefited a

lot from the schools that went before. When you have the opportunity

to correct a lot of problems that occurred in the first round and can

anticipate and avoid them, that helps.”

Work at Sonora should be complete by November.

Work at the other Group Two schools -- Davis Education Center and

College Park, Killybrooke and Wilson elementary schools -- will

progress through the summer and should be wrapped up later this year,

said Bonnie Martin, a director for project manager McCarthy Building

Companies. Things got off to an early start, she said, because some

schools agreed to vacate their administrative offices early and let

contractors get to work.

Wilson Elementary School, in its current state, serves as a

microcosm for all of Measure A and as an example of how the district

hopes the next phases will go.

The kindergarten classrooms, where tiny students sat only a couple

weeks ago, are stripped bare.

Across the campus, classrooms are nearing completion. New walls

housing four “drops” for Internet access, new windows, new tile,

multiple electrical outlets, refinished cupboards, new paint and new

carpet grace the rooms. All that’s needed is some minor tweaking,

like a sink for washing little hands and a metal strip to marry the

carpet to the tile.

Where there were only two or three electrical outlets, there is

now one about every two feet. New wiring will support 16 computer

stations, Martin said.

The administration offices at Wilson are all but done. The smell

of fresh paint and carpet fills the bright rooms; a conference table

sits ready for teachers; boxes await unpacking; and new tile lines a

bathroom’s floors and walls.

“One of the teachers stopped by last week and had not seen it

because it was fenced off before,” Principal Candy Sperling said.

“She just about fell down when she saw it. She said: ‘This looks like

a school.’ It looked real shabby before. Now it looks like a school.

“I feel like the ugly duckling -- the one that swims around,

nobody loves him, then he turns into a swan.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].