Update 9:50pm: With a 3-2 vote, the school board passed the Master Plan for Phases II and III of Measure J improvements, which includes replacing classrooms and athletic fields.
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Tonight the South City school board has a big decision to make. Trustees will vote on whether to approve the Master Plans for Phases II and III of Measure J school improvements.
These phases encompass the bulk of construction projects that the bond measure, passed in Nov. 2010, will pay for.
Total expenditures for Phase II are estimated to be $64,748,000 and $68.7 million for Phase III, predicted to wrap up in 2017.
According to the Master Plan document, Phase II would include spending $33.5 million on new modulars to replace old portables, $3.7 million on playgrounds at elementary schools, up to $5 million on seismic improvements, and $2.3 million on a new Buri Buri Elementary design.
Phases I and II would put totals of just over $5 million into South San Francisco High School athletic fields and just over $4 at El Camino High.
Vice president of the school board Phil Weise said on Wednesday that he will vote for the first phase of athletics facilities improvements, but that he wasn't convinced by the second phase for athletics. The later phase includes what Weise considers non-essentials, such as stands and concession structures.
"We have 10,000 kids in our district and not all of them play football," Weise said. "One of the specific things we promised is upgrade science classrooms, but I still haven’t seen a plan. As much as I like football, I think our schools deserve science."
Also at Thursday's meeting, the board will receive a presentation on a proposal to release Los Cerritos Elementary students at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. The proposal includes adding 10-minute segments of additional instruction time onto other days of the week to compensate for the early release.
PLEASE NOTE: The meeting will take place at the South San Francisco High School auditorium at 400 B Street, at 6:30 p.m.
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