MARTINEZ, Calif. – Martinez Unified School District Board of Education will view two options for the John Muir Elementary School campus Monday night.
The designs will be presented by Hibser Yamauchi Architects, the district’s contractor, and the Board may choose which it wants to replace the current campus.
Past presentations showed campus designs that met recommendations from those concerned with school safety, but estimates have exceeded the construction budgeted amount of $29 million, part of the total project budget of $38,851,800.
The Board’s subcommittee prefers Option 8, which architects have modified to cut its cost from $34,480,000 to $33,420,000, still above the construction budget.
It combines classrooms into a single building with a long aisle way and several shorter ones. A kinder play yard is adjacent to that building. Other structures would be moved to a playfield, and a separate building would accommodate Woodbridge children care programs. Existing parking would be resurfaced and a new parking lot would be built.
A variation of that design would drop the cost to $31,950,000.
It would divide the main school into two buildings connected by a paved entry.
This is part of the district’s Measure R bond program approved in 2016 by voters. John Muir is the only school that gets an entire campus replacement. Martinez Junior High School gets locker rooms and some classroom conversions.
John Swett Elementary School gets a new multipurpose room, renovations to its administration area, a new kindergarten and other modernization.
Las Juntas Elementary School gets new classrooms, new multipurpose room and administration area and a new library.
Morello Park Elementary School will get upgrades in two phases. The first will add classrooms, reconfigure the administration area and expand the multipurpose room. The second phase modernizes classrooms.
Furniture for new classrooms also is included in the bond program, as is its management and a reserve for unexpected expenses.
Helen Rossi, assistant district superintendent, will give the Board a report on Measure K projects, explaining which have been completed, which remain incomplete and which have not been started. She will ask the Board to prioritize projects that haven’t been started.
District Superintendent C.J. Cammack will give the Board an update on negotiations with labor groups about the Project Labor Agreement, a pact with trade organizations that would prevent work stoppages during Measure R major projects and would require nonunion contractors to pay union dues.
The Board is expected to ratify a contract with the California School Boards Association for its Agenda Online computer platform, for $2,750 for the first year that ends June 30, 2019, and for free from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. The agreement can be renewed for an annual fee of $6,000, or which fee is en effect at the time.
In addition, the Board will vote on a $35,726 agreement with Martinez Sheet Metal for a variety of tasks at Alhambra High School.
The panel also will vote to declare multiple items as surplus, from vehicles and heavy equipment from the district office to Chromebook computers at John Swett Elementary School.
The Board of Education will meet in a closed session at 5:15 p.m. Monday to discuss a student’s expulsion and labor matters. The regular meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the District Board Room, 921 Susana St.
