Health, safety top priorities for school repairs

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- There’s nothing like a good plan of attack --

especially when you’re talking about how to spend $163 million to

renovate 28 schools.

That’s why the 31 community members appointed to act as watchdogs to

$110 million of taxpayers’ money have prioritized school bond repairs,

starting with things they deem to be health and safety risks.

Tonight, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board will vote on

the set of guidelines the group proposed to them in a study session last

week.

“I felt they had done a tremendous job,” trustee Judy Franco said.

“They had looked at every aspect of what was presented to us. It was well

thought out. What their goals are are the same as what ours were when we

put this together.”

The guideline they devised puts all the repairs contained in the

facilities master plan into seven basic categories so the project’s

managers have an idea of what the committee want done first.

“We would hope that the very first set [of improvements] revolve

around health and safety,” said Tony Petros, chair of the oversight

committee.

The list begins with such items as getting restroom fixtures

functioning properly, ensuring fire and intrusion alarms work, doing

seismic upgrades and improving the safety of student drop-off and pickup

areas.

Priority No. 2 is compliance with handicap access laws, followed by

what they have called “building shell integrity.”

The third priority includes roof replacement, fixing leaking windows,

painting building exteriors, repairing dry rot and termite damage, and

fixing drainage and foundation problems.

Fourth on the committee’s list is classroom renovations, technology

upgrades and infrastructure needs. That category covers everything from

the ceilings, walls and floor to sewer, gas and electric upgrades.

Next comes the addition and repair of areas that support education:

computer labs, science labs, libraries, administration offices, theaters,

teacher lounges, custodial support and covered eating areas.

Priority No. 6 addresses schools’ athletic facility needs, such as

locker rooms, pools, stadiums and playgrounds.

Once all that is done, it will be time for landscaping, irrigation and

parking lot repairs.

This is by no means meant to be a rigid list to be followed exactly,

Petros said, but rather to give the project managers some idea of the

levels of importance of different improvements.

While the project mangers take the information and set up a schedule,

the committee will move on to other matters.

With $110 million coming from taxpayers, the plan was to get the

remaining $53 million from the state.

“We’re trying to learn more about the competitive money at state

level, so that we can position ourselves to be more competitive to get

more of that money,” Petros said. “What we’re learning is it’s a pool of

sharks and we want to position ourselves.”