Multiple schools throughout the Santa Monica – Malibu Unified School District are in dire need of maintenance, however it will come at a steep cost.
On May 18, the Board of Education discussed facility needs assessment and deferred maintenance with Carey Upton, Director of Maintenance, Operations, Transportation and Facilities Use Departments and Roosevelt Brown, Director of Facilities, Maintenance, and Operations.
Earlier this year, the two told the Board of Education the schools need more attention and funding to maintain an optimal level.
“If we were to grade our district facilities, they would not receive ‘A’s for standards of safety, efficiency nor aesthetics,” said Upton.
The Board of Education requested the Maintenance and Operations Department develop a list of critical needs projects that should be completed in the 2017 - 18 fiscal year.
“We budget $250,000 a year for deferred maintenance. We spend that before the end of the summer, and we need some additional funds,” said Upton.
Upton and Brown put together a presentation of 26 critical and different repair projects throughout the district including:
Restroom project throughout the district would cost $200,000.
Gutter repair at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School would cost $11,850.
Canopy repair at Franklin Elementary School would cost $4,000.
Exclusion project at Webster, John Muir, SMASH, McKinley, Franklin, JAMS, Roosevelt, and Santa Monica High School would cost $100,000.
Door repairs at John Adams Middle School would cost $4,000.
Fencing at Lincoln Middle School would cost $20,423.
Door repairs at Malibu High School would cost $5,000.
Turf installment at McKinley Elementary School, would cost $133,823.
Turf installment at Will Rogers Elementary School would cost $50,000.
Portable Foundation at Will Rogers Elementary School would cost $10,000.
Shed repair at Roosevelt Elementary School would cost $3,835.
Basketball and tennis court repair at Roosevelt Elementary School would cost $72,520.
Ceiling tiles at Webster Elementary School would cost $104,500.
At Santa Monica High School they would like to repair flooring, leaks, building letters, gates and doors, which would cost $92,398.
The list also includes many asphalt repairs at multiple schools like Webster, McKinley, Lincoln, Growing Place, Grant, and Franklin. Alone asphalt would cost $263,555. The 26-item project critical repair list comes to a total of $1,071,775.
“That is not all,” said Upton. “We have had five years of drought, which was helpful in a way. It meant we did not look at our roofing for a long time, but now it has started to rain again. We now know we have roofs that are in critical need.”
It has been around 20 years since the district has had significant roof replacement.
The roofing maintenance list consist of schools like Lincoln, JAMS, Olympic, Cabrillo, Santa Monica High School, Malibu, McKinley, Grant and Pine to name a few. The list reaches a grand total of $2,182,620.
Currently John Muir, SMASH, Lincoln, JAMS, and the Professional Development Learning Center are in need of immediate attention. Those five sites would cost a total of $1,013,460.
Upton and Brown also presented a list of less critical repair projects across the district, which would cost $1,149,599. All together repairs throughout the district come out to $3,238,964.
There was no decision made at the board meeting, however board members like Craig Foster feel it would be best for this to be discussed with Janece Maez, Associate Superintendent Business and Fiscal Service, to get a better understanding of how the district will and should distribute money for the next fiscal year.
“We’ve had a maintenance plan in place, but lack of funding, it has not been updated recently,” said Upton. “The Board of Education will finalize the budget on June 29.”
Upton acknowledges staff needs to do a full inventory and assessment of all facilities and equipment as it would help develop a full and elaborate needs assessment and deferred maintenance plan.
Gail Pinsker, SMMUSD Community and Public Relations Officer said, “This issue will come up for future discussions. Also Tax Measure GS/GSH was passed in November with one of the priorities for this funding to be deferred maintenance.”
marina@www.smdp.com
