Aromas-San Juan trustees discuss construction, computers

The Aromas-San Juan Unified School District trustees tabled a conversation on a construction project that is estimated at $160,000 more than the originally budgeted $2.6 million, during the latest regularly scheduled board meeting.
The plan to construct eight permanent, standing classrooms with Measure Z bond money at Aromas School – in an area that once held nine portable classrooms – became more expensive after officials learned of $59,810 in additional costs along with between $90,000 and $100,000 in soil mitigation issues.
“It would require us re-locating our bond money, basically,”  said Board President Jennifer Colby at the Oct. 22 meeting.
Trustees were presented with multiple options: suspend the project, amend the budget or approve value engineering choices to cut costs. They chose to table the conversation, though, after the Kasavan Architects received an incomplete report the day of the meeting suggesting that the soil in the area might liquefy in the event of an earthquake.
“There is no superintendent recommendation at this point because much of the discussion occurred in my absence,” explained Superintendent Ruben Zepeda, who took his role with the district this summer.
The portables were moved during the summer. The Division of the State Architect approved the project to break ground, but work hasn’t started yet. The original plan was to open the classrooms at the start of next school year.
Originally, school officials set aside $2.6 million for the project with an additional contingency fund of 10 percent to cover unexpected costs. But at the meeting, trustees learned the project plans were $59,810 more than the budget allowed and that even more money would be needed if the district wanted to create a new contingency fund to safeguard against further, unexpected costs.
As board members stared at a list of dubious options, they met the ideas with varied responses. Trustee Jeff Hancock expressed concern that the architectural firm was going to return again to ask for more funding later.
“You need to do it for what you agreed to do it for,” he said.
Trustee Jose Flores asked for more information.
“I would like to see more numbers,” he said. “I’m not happy with where we’re at.”
Colby was concerned by the idea of changing the planned nature of the buildings by cutting such things as a $9,920 thin brick siding when the amount saved would be small compared with the mutimillion-dollar budget trustees had reserved for the project. The student representative, Joseph Marynak, offered a similar opinion.
“I agree with the aesthetics thing,” Marynak said, as he reflected on the planned buildings. “They’re going to be here for a really long time.”
Kasavan Architects will return to the board with more information about the costs of soil mitigation at the next regularly scheduled board meeting in early November.
In other matters at the meeting:
Computers for the classroom
Trustees chose to designate up to a maximum of $20,000 for laptops and computers that could be used for taking the new Smarter Balanced Assessments, the state’s new testing method meant to evaluate how well students meet the new Common Core Standards.
Hancock asked the superintendent to outline the “minimum standards” for the desired computers so that the board members understood the requirements.
Zepeda said the computers should meet necessary requirements to be used for the state assessments, which will be taken on computers at most schools this year. Zepeda described devices with at least 4 gigabytes, a dual core processor with a minimum of 1.3 gigahertz processing speed, a 10 key keyboard and a 15.6-inch diagonal screen.
“So what are the benefits of these over Chromebooks?,” Marynak said.
Zepeda explained the Chromebooks have no hard drive, which is necessary for storing programs such as the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe InDesign and software for film classes.
Reserves, cash flow
Anzar High School teacher, Greg Braithwaite, union president of the local teachers’ association, spoke during public comment and asked the board to keep a smaller reserve so officials could allocate more money to staff.
The comment came in the same meeting where trustees discussed the California School Boards Association’s request that local boards adopt a resolution calling for the repeal of the reserve cap language in Senate Bill 858. Trustees did not vote on the issue as it was only a discussion item on the agenda.
Zepeda said the current district reserve is about 18 percent – well above the 3 percent required by the state. Later in the meeting, he explained that a 17 percent reserve would pay for about a month’s worth of salaries plus a few extra bills in the event of a crisis situation.
In terms of cash flow statements, Hancock cast the lone dissenting vote against approving the monthly statement.
“I disagree with passing on monthly cash flow statements that are absolutely inaccurate and everyone agrees they are inaccurate,” he said.
Coming up
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Nov. 5 at Aromas School located at 365 Vega St. in Aromas.