PROFILES, from page 8 Nailing down ideas for bond
SAMOHI — Issues of overcrowding, campus inefficiencies, as well as inadequate and outdated facilities throughout the local school district have propelled hundreds of people from the Santa Monica and Malibu communities into action.
About 100 people gathered at Santa Monica High School on Saturday morning for the third of four community workshops designed to assess the needs of all 19 campuses that accommodate the district’s 12,500 students and early childhood programs.
The idea is to gather enough community input to determine what’s broken at all of the schools so district officials can go about fixing them, possibly asking voters in November to approve a multi-million dollar bond to reconstruct the campuses.
The fourth and final workshop will be held in October, after a new superintendent of schools is hired, which is expected to occur this summer. The school board voted to extend the planning process so former superintendent John Deasy’s replacement could be involved.
The first two workshops — which included school faculty and administrators, parents and students — focused on the needs and assets of each school. Saturday’s workshop revolved around site-specific needs in conceptual design charettes.
About 100 people broke into small groups and began reworking the make-up of the facilities on each school campus. Given cardboard models of individual campuses, members of the Community Planning Committee spent more than an hour redesigning the facilities — moving and demolishing buildings, adding stories to existing classrooms and creating new complexes like libraries, parking structures, Internet cafes and auditoriums. Buildings made of cut-out Styrofoam were used, as well as construction paper, to alter the models. At the end of the small group discussions, those representing each school presented their priorities.
“We will make sure we have nailed down those ideas to prepare for the bond,” said Bonnie Hill, a principal at Concordia LLC., the consulting firm hired by the school district to oversee the process.
“When it’s time to put this out to the voters, it’s up to you to get this out to the public,” she told the committee members who gathered in Samohi’s library on Saturday.
Assumptions going into the process were that there would be child development centers at each school; shelters would be constructed over cafeteria areas; classrooms would be expanded; a community library would be added; modular buildings would be torn down and replaced with permanent buildings; outdoor classrooms would be created; parking would be expanded; school entrances would be reconfigured and bathrooms redone.
Representatives for each elementary school presented their priorities, which for John Muir Elementary and SMASH included making the facilities more dense on the campuses. Among the additions would be an art and science plaza, a media and technologies complex, an athletic complex, tennis courts, and a new auditorium at the current site of the cafeteria. The administration office also would be relocated.
At Edison Elementary, committee members redesigned the campus based on the fact that there is currently not enough space, particularly for outdoor play areas. They proposed putting another story on every classroom, anticipating that the school will one day become kindergarten through eighth grade. Currently, Edison has kindergarten through fifth grade. They also proposed that the auditorium area would become an indoor play area. Finally, committee members want bullet-proof material on the buildings along Virginia Avenue where many gang-related shootings have taken place in the past.
Grant Elementary needs a new asphalt track, and two-story complexes to handle the more than 700 kids who attend the school, even though it was built for between 500 and 600 students, committee members said. Drop-off zones also would be created off of the alleys surrounding the campus.
Will Rogers Elementary needs dedicated space for kindergarten and preschool programs. It also needs more buildings and a security fence to keep the public away from the campus. Another story would be built onto the parking lot at 16th Street; classrooms would be enlarged and the administrative area would be expanded.
Roosevelt Elementary would have a second story on all of its classrooms, an outdoor amphitheater, science and technology labs, an arts studio, a Zen garden with wi-fi access, underground parking, as well as the administrative office and drop-off zone being relocated along Montana Avenue.
McKinley Elementary needs better campus security and preschool facilities. Committee members proposed replacing the portable buildings with permanent buildings, and expanding preschool and childcare centers.
Two-story structures would be added, as well as an outdoor eating area. The library and computer lab would be connected to create a media area.
There are more than 800 students at Franklin Elementary, plus a preschool, so committee members proposed that the property next to the school could be purchased to accommodate the masses. Under their proposal, a new cafeteria would be added as well as second floors on all classrooms, and the library and auditorium would be expanded. The art, science and technology center would be renovated.
In Malibu, Juan Cabrillo Elementary’s classrooms would have second stories built onto them; a preschool would be added and the parking lot would be expanded. All temporary buildings would be replaced with permanent ones.
Webster Elementary would have an improved entrance, more storage in the physical education area and temporary buildings would become permanent.
At Point Dume Elementary, who didn’t have any representatives at Saturday’s meeting, a space for preschool would be built and modules for music programs would be created.
MIDDLE PRIORITIES John Adams Middle School needs more parking, preschool facilities, and concentrated labs and classrooms. Second stories would be added to classrooms and the administration building would be expanded and moved to 16th Street. A dedicated drop-off zone also would be created.
At Lincoln Middle School, an Internet cafe would be created as well as an expansion of the auditorium. A drop-off zone along 14th Street also would be created.
HIGH PRIORITIES Because the Olympic High School campus serves so many programs — early education, adult education, special education and high school classes — committee members propose moving the early childhood programs off site. They also propose a new complex for adult education with parking underneath. There is currently no gym, library, athletic fields or an auditorium, all of which need to be added.
At Malibu High School, the library needs to be redone into three levels and a community area should be added.
An extensive overhaul needs to be done at Samohi, where 3,500 students attend school. Committee members propose that the athletic track should be elevated over Fourth Street, which would connect to the city’s planned athletic fields across the street. The art, business and administration buildings would be demolished, and then recon-figured and replaced.
The administration building would be two levels and would include a new library. Parking and classrooms would be located where the business building currently sits. Where the seventh tennis court is would be a dedicated drop-off zone, as well as a U-shape drop-off zone along Pico Boulevard. An Internet cafe also would be created on campus.
PARTICIPATION KEY TO THE FUTURE Committee members and consultants will be mulling over the ideas, concepts and designs in the coming weeks. Anyone who wants to be involved is asked to participate in an online survey at ourschool-pan.com. Survey submissions will be accepted until May 7.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 1, 2006. Read the original PDF.