|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Pleasanton school board is set to consider approving a second phase agreement for the purchase of an office complex in the Hacienda Business Park to serve as the new district headquarters during its upcoming board meeting on Thursday.
After the board approved the resolution on July 14 to proceed with the acquisition of the two-building property, located on 5758 and 5794 West Las Positas Blvd., it will now consider approving the architectural firm working on the project to start looking at the scope of work for future tenant improvements.
DSK Architects, the firm set to be hired by the district for $267,718, will work to complete construction documents, which will further refine tenant improvement layouts and contents, agency approvals, bidding and construction.
The first phase of the purchase process, which was also completed on July 14, provided the board with initial design ideas and preliminary pricing plans to assist the district in obtaining cost estimates for the tenant improvements.
In total, the purchase of the complex, also known as the Arroyo Center, will cost $23,480,261 for the district to acquire from the current owner, ECI Four Arroyo LLC.
The district will be keeping three acres of the current district headquarters on the edge of downtown Pleasanton, at 4645 and 4665 Bernal Ave., while the rest of the seven acres will be put up for sale.
The property was recently estimated in value between $31 million and $34 million, which would help pay off the newly purchased Arroyo Center.
The district was also presented with an updated lease agreement during the July 14 meeting for the sole tenant currently renting a portion of the Arroyo Center, electron microscopy firm Gatan Inc. — which would make the district the landlord of the lease going forward after escrow closes on the purchase.
The company will begin paying the district about $80,000 starting next year every month from now until 2027.
Those tenant payments coupled with a certificate of participation of $30 million, which is a type of financing where an investor purchases a share of the lease revenues of a program, will be used by the district to pay for the space and any future renovation and construction projects
In other business
* The board will be reviewing a change order to allocate more money for the fire alarm upgrades project after construction teams found issues in three schools that need their fire alarms updated.
Upgrading the fire alarm systems at all the schools for consistency and student safety was part of the $270 million Measure I1 facilities bond that voters passed in 2016.
So far, all of the school sites are now up-to-date with their fire alarms — except for the three schools in question; Donlon Elementary, Walnut Grove Elementary and Harvest Park Middle schools.
If the board approves the increment in cost, completion of these projects will bring all the schools up to the current building code standards for fire alarms.
The issue at hand for the three schools is that originally, the district’s design team tried to save money by specifying the re-use of the existing heat detectors at all three sites, which in the end did not work out.
“As the project commenced at both sites, it was discovered that the heat detectors did not match the original as-built drawings and were incompatible with the new fire alarm systems,” according to the staff report. “Since these were in concealed spaces, they were unable to be identified prior to the design completion.”
There are 470 additional devices identified that needed to be installed and cabled, according to the report. The district did, however, include a contingency plan in its budgeting for the project and will seek approval from the board to allocate $136,186 for the revised plan.
The total revised contract for the project will be $2,124,186.76, if the board approves.
* As part of an annual process, board members will decide on approving a 5% stipend increase for themselves.
If approved, the increase would bring the total stipend for each board member to $463 monthly or $5,556 annually and would be effective December 2022.
“In any school district in which the average daily attendance for the prior school year was 25,000, or less, but more than 10,000, each member of the city board of education or the governing board of the district who attends all meetings held may receive as compensation for his or her services a sum not to exceed ($400) in any month,” according to a staff report.
The board can increase its stipend by 5% on an annual basis based on the present monthly rate of compensation. The last time the board approved the raise was in July 2018 when it increased the stipend to $441 per month ($5,292 annually) which is the current board stipend.
* Several dual immersion teachers could be appointed to Valley View Elementary School by using a variable term waiver request, which allows those who aren’t fully credentialed to still be able to teach.
According to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the variable term waiver is a document issued for employers who meet the waiver criteria when a fully credentialed teacher is not available for the assignment.
In other words, this waiver would allow the board to bring teachers who are still working to get their credentials into the district, just not as a full hire.
After the district began its ongoing search for a dual immersion teacher for Valley View in May, staff have found four candidates they’re recommending to apply for the waiver request.
The first candidate mentioned is Ryan Sweeney who has a bachelor’s from California Polytechnic State University and has one year of experience teaching Spanish in the school district. He currently holds a single subject credential in history and has an authorization to teach introductory Spanish. He is also working on clearing his multiple subject credential.
Arely Labra Paredes is another candidate district staff is recommending. She has a bachelors from California State University, East Bay and has three years of experience teaching Spanish in the district. She currently holds a multiple subject credential and has a minor in Spanish.
She is working on clearing her bilingual, cross cultural, language and academic development authorization, just like the last two candidates Sebastian Martinez and Dayna Vickery.
Martinez also graduated from CSU East Bay and has one year of experience teaching Spanish dual immersion in the district. He holds a multiple subject credential and is fluent in Spanish.
Vickery, who graduated from San Francisco State, has over seven years of teaching experience. She currently holds a multiple subject credential and a degree in Spanish.
