FACILITIES • CUSTODIAL SERVICES • BUILDINGS & GROUNDS

NEWSLETTER FA L L 2 0 1 0 D I V I S I O N O F FAC I L I T I E S , P L A N N I N G & M A N AG E M E N T

The school district has begun work on its biggest construction project in memory - a $75-million Downtown Educational Complex that will house brand new buildings for La Escuelita Elementary and MetWest High Schools, as well as new homes for Yuk Yau and Centro Infantil Child Development Centers.

Work began first quarter of 2010 on the Educa-tional Complex, which will be built on the 5.7-acre lot across from the district’s administrative headquarters at Second Avenue and East 10th Street. The first phase involves tearing down the west end of the lot, including the office port- ables, and building the new La Escuelita campus.

It’s a huge and complicated project that will be magnificent when it is completed. These

schools will create a beautiful educational environment and represent a major investment in the future of our children

Credit for the project goes to the city’s voters, who provided the funding by passing bond Measure B, and to the Oakland Board of Education for making the decision to invest in the new complex.

The project, is to be built in three phases. In addition to the schools, the complex will include a playing field, basketball courts, a parking lot and a multipurpose building with a health clinic, the district television station KDOL, and the central data center facility.

The project was approved by the school board in December 2007 and has been in development

since then. Parents and community members have been involved in every step of the pro-graming and design process.

The new La Escuelita campus will have a 360-student capacity; MetWest, a capacity for 180 students; and the two child development centers will hold 163 students.

This project was designed to meet CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) standards, and all of the schools will be built with state-of-the-art energy efficient technology, designed to stay warm in the winter and cool when the weather is hot. Additionally, the proj-ect will be ‘grid-neutral, ‘which means that it will be capable of functioning independently of a PG&E electricity supply.

District Breaks Ground on Downtown Educational Complex

By Timothy White, Assistant Superintendent for Facilities

Artist’s rendering shows new Downtown Education Complex at 2nd Avenue and East 10th Street.

The School District, Alameda County, the City of Oakland and Safe Passages have joined together to build and operate

four new School Based Health Centers and to expand another. This will be the largest expan-sion of school health centers ever undertaken in Alameda County middle schools and is part of a collaborative effort to provide support services that strengthen communities and create the conditions in which children can develop academically and socially.

The partners were awarded a total of $15 million from Atlantic Philanthropies in 2008 to implement the Elev8 Oakland Initiative. A portion of the grant is funding the construction of four new health centers at middle school campuses in low-income Oakland neighbor-hoods as well as the expansion of another, existing middle school facility.

In addition to the $15 million, the project will receive an additional $25.7 million in programs and services for Oakland youth and their families, totaling $40.7 million. This includes a contribution from the District of $6.6 million in Measure B funds for health center construction.

The centers are part of holistic strategy to create an environment conducive to personal development and academic achievement by addressing the social conditions that plague many families in low-income communities.

“Our great task is to repair and rebuild a broken system in a time of dramatically

declining revenues. If we are to achieve this goal, it can’t be busi-ness as usual,” said OUSD Superintendent Tony Smith.

“In addition to a high-quality education, we must provide health, physical education, nutrition, medical, dental, recreation, housing, employ-ment and language acquisition opportunities, with the school serving as the hub of activity. The emphasis is on educating and caring for the whole child.”

Five middle school campuses, Calvin Simmons (United for Success), West Oakland, Havenscourt (Coliseum College Prep Academy and ROOTS International), Madison and Roosevelt are part of Elev8 Oakland. Construction began this summer and will be completed early in 2011.

This initiative builds on a Kaiser Permanente grant awarded in 2008 to launch the Oakland Universal Access Initiative in schools. This $3 million, three-year grant is designed to ensure that all middle and high school students have access to comprehensive and integrated health services on or near campus.

District Moves Toward Full Service Community SchoolsNew Middle School Centers Provide Vital Services

“In addition to a high-quality educa-tion, we must provide health, physical education, nutrition, medical, dental, recreation, housing, employment and language acquisition opportunities, with the school serving as the hub of activ-ity. The emphasis is on educating and caring for the whole child.” Dr. Tony Smith, Superintendent

OUSD Superintendent Dr. Tony Smith

New Middle and High School Centers Provide Vital Services Artist rendering showing renovated health center at Oakland High School.

Custodial Services Department staff: Terri Ellis, Coordinator; Roland Broach, Director; and Kechette Walls, Office Manager

Barak Obama Academy

Custodial Services Department Participates in County Hiring ProgramCustodial Services Department Director Roland Broach

The Custodial Services Department, supported by federal stimulus funding,

is participating in the Alameda County Hire Program, which pays 80 percent of qualified employees’ salaries.

The program enhances the Dis-trict’s day-to-day cleaning of its school sites, while extending op-portunities to job seekers who are struggling financially, said Direc-tor of Custodial Services Roland Broach. “Eligible employees will have an opportunity to establish

or re-establish themselves in the workforce, which directly impacts their lives as wells as the lives of the people in the communities of Alameda County,” he said.

By utilizing the program, the Custodial Service Department has

set a goal of hiring 50 substitute custodians. “We currently have 10 AC-Hire employees working as Substitute Custodians,” said Kechette Walls, Custodial Services office manager.

The cost of 50 substitutes for six months is about $585,000. By participating in the 80 20-subsidy program, the district only will have to pay $117,800. The county (distributing federal funds) will reimburse the district approximately $467,000 Custodial Services Department Coordinator Terri Ellis said.

“Substitute employees who complete the six-month program and perform admirably may be se-lected to remain working with the District – they have an opportunity to become permanent employees within the Custodial Services De-partment,” Director Broach said.

Buildings and GroundsDirector Leroy Stokes

S ummertime is when Build-ings and Grounds (B&G) undertakes major projects

that are difficult to do when school is in session: interior and exterior painting, landscaping, overhauls of heating and cooling units and repair and replacement of fences.

“We always look forward to the summer because it’s a time when we can get a lot of the bigger jobs completed,” said Leroy Stokes, Director of Buildings and Grounds.

Last year, Bella Vista, Franklin, Explore, Brookfield and Markham schools received a fresh coat of

exterior paint. In addition, the outside of the Castlemont High auditorium was painted while the Facilities Department was completely renovating the inside of the build-ing. Interior painting at Claremont

Middle School included hallways, lockers, classrooms and offices.

This summer, Buildings and Grounds completed similar projects at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary, Obama Academy, Joaquin Miller Elementary, Mon-tera Middle and interior painting

at Explore. In addition, Parker, Burbank, Bella Vista, Explore, Burckhalter, Markham, Martin Lu-ther King, H.R. Tubman, Montera, Clinton Park and Street Academy received heating system upgrades.

B&G has also adopted a filter program to help improve the air quality of our schools. Staff visits school sites biannually to change the filters on all heating systems. Sites that have a greater need are visited every three months.

Other projects include extensive landscape beautification and clean-up projects completed at Piedmont Elementary, Barack Obama, Brookfield and Sankofa. Drive-ways were repaved at Elmhurst, Obama, Bret Harte and Far West. Brush and debris were removed in order to reduce fire hazards at Explore, Kaiser, Madison, Carl Munck, Joaquin Miller, Grass Val-

ley, Montclair, Sequoia, Thornhill, Marshall, Cleveland and Commu-nity Day.

During the school year, schools submit work orders online. Car-penters, plumbers, electricians and painters are among the employees at Buildings and Grounds who come out to sites to make repairs. Work orders are handled based on the severity of the issue, said Stokes. “It’s like an emergency room. We make the most serious health and safety requests our top priority.”

Work orders are handled based on the severity of the issue, said Stokes. “It’s like an emergency room. We make the most serious health and safety requests our top priority.”

Franklin Elementary School Martin Luther King. Jr. Elementary School Fence at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School

Facilities Update by Timothy E. White, Assistant Superintendent

The Oakland Unified School District Local Enterprise Policy is putting Oakland residents to work as the District embarks on a massive

$300 million building plan that includes new schools and buildings at school sites, health clinics, and modernization and repair projects and will keep contractors busy for at least the next three years.

To ensure that local contractors, including small local businesses, can take advantage of the opportunities, the District organizes regular outreach events to educate potential District contractors, architects and subcon-tractors about the District’s commitment to local hiring and to explain how to become certified with the City of Oakland.

Many contractors and other interested community members attended an event in February to learn about the projects and how to apply for them.

The $300 million is what is left from a $435 million General Obligations Bond, called Measure B, passed overwhelming in 2006 by Oakland vot-ers. Additional outreach events are in planning for September.

The District emphasizes to contractors that they are expected to follow the District’s Local Enterprise Policy passed in December 2008, which requires that all projects have a minimum of 20 percent Oakland business participation.

We still have a very robust Capital Program and a lot of work to do.

Projects that are in design or planning stages at present total $234 million. Among them are $23 million for a new classroom and a multi-purpose building at Jefferson Elementary, $2.5 million for Prescott Elementary modernization, $16.7 million for a new classroom building at Highland Elementary, $12 million for a new classroom and cafeteria building at Havenscourt Middle School, and $10 million for moderniza-tion of the schools on the Fremont campus in East Oakland.

Assistant Superintendent Timothy White, Facilities Planning and Management

2010 Summer Interns

Pictured (L to R): Superintendent Tony Smith, Terri Ellis, Carla Colbert, Maxine Jasper, Leroy Stokes, Board Director Jody London, Roland Broach and

Board Director Christopher Dobbins

Summer Interns Learn the Ropes at Facilities Planning and ManagementA group of interns ranging from middle school to college- bound students worked for six weeks at the Division of Facilities Planning and Management. While earning a salary, they gained a hands-on appreciation of what it takes to maintain and renovate Oakland schools.

The interns were: Tavares Williams, Ebony Richardson, Monet Allen, Antonio Espinoza Jr., Christopher Coronel, Ivan Espinoza. Dominque Davis, Larry Bridges Jr., Sharon Powell, Ashley Marcellus, Kadijat Okunade and Demaurya Canada.

The youths rotated among jobs so that they would be exposed to different types of work, including certified payroll, B&G activi-ties, design and office work. The interns took field trips to school site construction projects, where they donned hard hats and learned from Project Managers what was being built, what stage the project was in and the problems that might be coming up. The goal of the program is to encourage them to continue pursuing their education while assisting them in developing work skills.

Facilities Team Receives Service Excellence Award

The Facilities Team received a Service Excellence Award last fall during the 3rd Annual Expect Success Employee Awards Ceremony for significantly improving the quality of the learning environment for students and staff through new construction, renovation, maintenance and higher cleaning standards.

The Buildings & Grounds and Custodial Service areas were rec-ognized for their implemented systems of tracking and monitoring customer requests and promoting consistency and accountability. The Facilities Team was also acknowledged for three years of steady positive increase on their RATER scores through their deep commitment to high levels of service by significantly investing in professional development and training for their employees in the areas of customer service and operational skills.

Oakland School Bond Delivers Jobs and Modernized Schools