School board recognizes completion of Amador, Foothill classroom buildings

The Pleasanton school board approved of issuing a notice of completion for the construction of new classroom buildings at Foothill and Amador Valley high schools at the board meeting earlier this month.

The construction of the new buildings were funded as part of the Measure I1, a $270 million general obligation bond that voters passed in 2016 to help address facility needs, safety and building modernizations.

John Chwastyk, executive director of facilities and construction, also presented to the board a final change order representing the negotiation of all final costs on the project. According to the district report, including that final change order the total final project cost was $18,402,045, which Chwastyk said is still within the project budget.

He added that his team was able to reduce the contractor submitted costs by about $100,000.

“This is a successful finish to these projects at the contractor level,” Chwastyk told the board on July 14. “We still have some other details that we’re working out but … they’re complete for all intents and purposes and we’re in the project closeout phase.”

The majority of the change order was related to extending the time of construction for both projects because of several updates that came from either the pandemic or general enhancements that were made midway through the projects.

One of the main changes, Chwastyk said, was the new guidance regarding operable windows to allow for more fresh air flow in the classrooms to account for the pandemic.

That forced the district to change several windows in the classroom buildings along with the other electrical upgrades that were done to the classrooms.

In other business

* Board members voted to allow Superintendent David Haglund a one-time delegation of authority so he can approve a bid to pay for the second phase of updating the Foothill High School stadium.

On May 26, the board approved a two-phase plan to upgrade pathways to the sports fields at Foothill to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The first phase, which is already underway, will create two new ADA-compliant parking spots near the baseball field, a walkway from those parking spots to the field and an ADA-compliant walkway from the nearest ADA-compliant parking near the tennis complex to the front entry of the stadium.

The bidding process for contractors to work on the second phase of the project is still underway, which is why Chwastyk and the facilities and construction team brought the item to the board so that when the bidding for the construction is done, Haglund can sign off on the agreement.

Haglund said that this action will speed up the process and get the project done sooner, rather than having to wait until the next board meeting cycle. Chwastyk said that the bid for the second phase should be coming in before month’s end.

“We had to piece this project out into a few pieces to achieve the deadlines that are really, really tight,” Chwastyk said. “We are requesting the delegation of authority due to the tight time-frame and we really want to get the contractor started.”

Phase II of the construction will work inside the stadium to build a switch back ramp leading to the lower field, ADA seating and providing accessible walkways.

But during the meeting, Trustee Kelly Mokashi said she was concerned about the procedure itself and how much money Haglund would be approving with the second phase project.

“I am uncomfortable with the amount that we’re asking ahead of time for approval for this particular project and I’m trying to understand the urgency,” Mokashi said.

Despite approving the item, she said she wanted to discuss how to have more of a structure in the future for similar cases.

“I would like a follow up to the delegation of authority as per our previous conversation and really like to see some action around that, to put some more structures in place for that, understanding the urgency of this case,” Mokashi said.

The rest of the board, however, supported the authorization for Haglund to approve the bid mainly due to the fact that the school year is about to begin and the football team would not be able to use the field in time.

“Football season is coming and we’re under a time crunch … so that’s one of the reasons,” Board President Mark Miller said. “We have a lot of years of track record of exceptionally sound project management and fiscal management from this group and so I’m willing to trust these guys to do the right thing on this particular item in order to get these repairs done in time.”

Funding for this project will be coming from the district’s Fund 40 capital improvement fund and a donation from We Are Pleasanton, which has raised $250,000 toward the project.

* The board officially ratified four new vice principals and two new changes to the administrative team.

In administration Nicole Hurtado, who was working as the vice principal for Harvest Park Middle School for the past three years, will be the new coordinator of human resources. She told the board that she is excited to join the human resources team and hopes to grow in her new role.

Joshua Butterfield, who resigned from his position as Amador Valley High School principal last month, will be taking on the role of director of secondary education.

“I feel really fortunate for the opportunities that have been provided for me in my time here, both as a teacher and as an administrator,” he said. “Who I am, I can really say, is deeply influenced by the relationships that I built along the way.”

The board also appointed Danielle Tremain, former principal on special assignment for the Children’s Annex at the San Mateo-Foster City School District, as the new vice principal for Donlon Elementary School.

Tremain, a newcomer to the Pleasanton school district, is replacing former vice principal Carole Stothers who was appointed as the new Vintage Hills Elementary principal last month.

The two other vice principals who were officially welcomed into their new roles were Ashley Green, a science teacher at Harvest Park Elementary who will be joining Hart Middle School, and Kristina Brown who will be joining the district for the first time as vice principal of Walnut Grove Elementary School.

Brown, up until now, has been the vice principal for Mossdale Elementary School, which is located in Lathrop.

“Thank you for trusting me and having the confidence in me to continue to be a vice principal,” Brown said. “I look forward for what’s to come.”