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Published on 12/21/1998 All articles from this issue

LASD begins studying construction timeline

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Students in the Los Altos School District could be moved across campus or reshuffled across town over the next six years while their schools are being renovated, depending on how the district decides to proceed with construction plans.

School officials recently presented possible scenarios for developing a construction timeline for its nine schools, which will be renovated with money generated from the passage of Measure H.

The district could decide to set up "camps" or temporary school sites on three campuses, which students would occupy while their schools are under construction. The three sites would consist of portable classrooms possibly set up at Egan, Blach and Covington schools.

Under this scenario, the Covington School site could be renovated and opened initially as a K-3 school in winter 2000 to help keep enrollment between approximately 400-600 students, said superintendent Marge Gratiot.

Gratiot said there are several advantages to placing students off site during construction. She said there would be no safety or noise concerns; construction could be more efficient; and construction wouldn't interrupt instructional programs.

If Covington is not opened until 2003, enrollment could reach 700 at some schools, according to district reports.

If students remained on site during construction, work at each school would be completed in two phases over a two-year period, Gratiot said. New construction would be completed in one phase and renovation work would be completed in another.

Gratiot said under this scenario, work would be done one "wing at a time," with each classroom taking about two to three months to complete.

She said the district does not want to tackle more than four construction projects per year.

Gratiot said if students stay on site, schools could be torn up for longer periods of time. In addition, "Some schools are already impacted with portables," she said. "We would have to move the portables and add more when the schools are under construction. It could be a real zoo."

Gratiot said the district has not begun to look at the order in which schools will be renovated. She said beginning with the junior high schools makes the most sense, however, so students won't have to endure construction at elementary school and again at junior high.

Gratiot said a final plan will be in place by March.