District Must Clarify Goals on School Construction

The school district needs to clarify its goals and implementation plan for Measure J bond improvement projects, according to Ahmad Sheikholeslami, the district’s newly hired bond program director.

After analyzing the district’s progress on Measure J thus far, Sheikholeslami, who started with SSFUSD in February, also concluded that the district must align its construction schedule with cash flow generated through bond sales and design construction projects around the long-term educational goals for the district, according to a presentation he made at Thursday night’s school board meeting.

“It’s looking at what do we want our schools to be like in the 21st century,” Sheikholeslami said. “What type of facility do we need to support educational aims?”

Measure J is perceived as potentially transformational to the school district, and the board has been highly concerned with “getting things right,” Sheikholeslami said. Clarifying and communicating goals and priorities will keep the district from disappointing the expectations of residents, Sheikholeslami said.

Sheikholeslami recommended the district take nine key steps to ensure progress on Measure J:

1. Hire a master architect (the district is in the process of interviewing four firms).
2. Hire structural engineers to evaluate the seismic safety of schools on the AB300 list, a state list of public school buildings that may be unsafe in the even of an earthquake.
3. Develop ambitious educational specifications that create a vision for SSFUSD 21st century schools. This vision should be the guide for creating facilities that meet these educational aims.
4. Right-size schools based on demographic projections and expected enrollment fluctuations. Consider whether the district wants to start a magnet program.
5. Refine and prioritize the project implementation list.
6. Working with the master architect, develop an ambitious view of what should ideally be done with each school campus if funds and resources were available. As funding becomes available, pieces of the plan can be implemented.
7. After initial planning work, reevaluate implementation plan and finalize improvements for each school. Develop a tier of second-priority projects that can be implemented as funds become available. Develop realistic construction schedules aligned with cash flow.
8. Update the budget and make spending transparent to the community. Pursue outside funding such as grants, etc.
9. Continue planning and engineering work, develop a summer work package for 2012, fast-track construction at Buri Buri to break ground in 2013.

“This is what we’ve been looking for. We need someone to tell us what we can do, someone to prioritize it,” said Trustee Liza Normandy. “I don’t want to rush through a process and know we’re just getting the cheapest deal and that it’s not going to last in 50 years.”

The board, district staff and facilities sub-committee will move forward with the work outlined in Sheikholeslami’s plan; many of the specific construction plans remain undetermined. Sheikholeslami emphasized that creating holistic educational specifications for each school and for the district is key in providing guidance for Measure J projects.

“Without that, it’s like not having a recipe and asking us to cook a meal,” Sheikholeslami said.