Safety nets coming on fly

John Burroughs and Burbank high schools will soon have the

long-awaited safety netting around their baseball fields to protect

neighbors, cars and students from fly balls.

Several of Burbank Unified School District’s other summer

modernization projects are also nearing completion.

“It’s coming along wonderfully, all the summer projects are,”

Chief of Facilities Officer Craig Jellison said.

The school board originally approved the construction of the

safety netting in November 2004, which they believed would be

completed in time for baseball season in March. But they voted on

conceptual drawings presented by the former facilities head Ali

Kiafar, not an actual bid on a contract to complete the project.

According to the district, the communication problems between the

facilities team, the board and the rest of the district that have

plagued the district have been cleared up, leading to the approval of

a $760,297 bid for the project in July and the beginning of actual

construction over the summer.

“We’re well on track and on schedule,” said Jellison, who said the

poles for the project have been manufactured and will be galvanized

by the end of the week.

“They’re not something you just buy off the shelf at a local

yard,” Jellison said of the poles. “They’re custom fabricated poles.

That’s the biggest portion, then we start the site work.”

The poles will be in place by mid-September and the nets will be

in place by mid-October, he said. Completion of projects are

scheduled for Oct. 30.

The installation of the waterproofing membrane on the tennis court

at Burbank High School will also be done by the end of this week,

Jellison said. During its original construction under the old

facilities team, a water proofing membrane was left off the court to

save money, which led to leaking and lime damage to the parking lot

and cars below during rain storms this past winter.

“They’ve filled 8,000 feet of linear cracks,” said Jellison of the

construction crew working on the court. “It’s a multi-layered process

to waterproof, and we’re in the final stages.”

The membrane is now installed and the construction crew is

preparing to paint the court after the anti-slip surface is finished.

Projects at other schools are also nearing completion.

John Muir Principal Dan Hacking is pleased with new landscape.

“My main thing is the education of the kids and how the site looks

is vital to the school culture,” Hacking said.

He also touted the new facilities maintenance team, which has been

headed by Jellison since Kaifar resigned in December 2004.

“Things fall on a far more receptive ear,” Hacking said of the new

department.

While the old facilities team used to work with the motto “on time

and under budget,” that ideal doesn’t always effectively address the

needs of district employees and students, Jellison said.

“I would have rather been on time and o7atf7 budget and given

people what they wanted instead having to go back at a later date,”

he said.