High school revamps ready to begin

Andrew Edwards

If everything goes according to plan, construction crews will be a

common sight at local high schools through 2009.

Officials with the Huntington Beach High School District are in

the opening stages of a five-year plan to revamp the district’s

campuses. Instead of working sequentially, the district plans to take

on parallel projects at all the schools.

“Every school’s got planning right now,” Supt. Van Riley said.

The school district will work with a 10-member Oversight Committee

that the school board selected on Tuesday. The group will monitor the

spending of bond revenue raised by Measure C and will include members

living in all three cities served by the district: Huntington Beach,

Fountain Valley and Westminster.

Measure C, a $228-million bond measure, passed in March. All money

raised by the initiative is to go to repairing and upgrading the

district’s high schools.

Civic organizations provided most of the community members. Each

city’s Chamber of Commerce selected a nominee, Parent Teacher Student

Assn. chapters nominated two other members and the Orange County

Taxpayers Assn. had one pick. The other four members individually

submitted applications to the board.

Representatives from Surf City fill half of the body’s slots.

Huntington Beach residents on the committee include Jan Mittermeier,

who was nominated by the Orange County Taxpayer Assn. From 1995 to

2000 Mittermeier served as CEO of Orange County and earlier worked as

the director of John Wayne Airport.

“It’s really a coup to have someone that talented,” said school

board President Michael Simons.

The Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce nominated Charles Bunten,

the chamber’s chairman, and the PTSA named nurse Barbara

Goss-Bottoroff as its selection.

“I have a keen interest in making sure the schools and

infrastructure are up to snuff,” Bunten said.

Also from Huntington Beach are Robert Detloff of the Huntington

Beach Council on Aging, who applied to represent a senior

organization, and Martha Wait-Huber, a part-time substitute teacher

and parent with significant volunteer experience with schools.

The other members are Robin Rudon and Thomas Joseph Gierhart of

Fountain Valley and Robyn Sottile, Cathy Cornwell and Gloria Reyes of

Westminster.

Planned work will include new classrooms and improvements to

existing school buildings. District officials want to get started

during summer vacation.

Much of the work will be what officials and planners called

“modernization” -- making sure buildings will be able to meet the

demands of thousands of new students over the years.

“We’re going to make sure that buildings are up to code,” Asst.

Supt. for Business Services Patricia Koch said. “We’re going to

ensure handicapped accessibility. We’re going to ensure fire and life

safety.”

Work planned for the summer includes rebuilding the water main at

Huntington Beach High School and providing disabled access at Edison

High School, she said.

The work also will include installing new ceilings, floors and

electrical wiring, among other projects, at all of the district’s

campuses.

“Over the next five years you’re going to see a lot of stuff

happening,” said Don Pender, project director with LPA Architects.

New construction is slated to include an expanded arts building

and new classrooms at Huntington Beach High School and a new science

wing and other classrooms at Ocean View High School that will

eliminate the need for portables. The anticipated cost of the work

will be substantial at almost $379 million, officials said, and will

not be covered completely by Measure C.