Maria Carrillo, Piner among schools set to receive $49 million in improvements

The Santa Rosa City school board Wednesday night unanimously approved the funding of five large-scale projects across its campuses.

The $49 million dispersed as part of two bond measures passed by voters in 2014 includes the estimated cost of upgrades to Maria Carrillo High School’s much-maligned stadium and a synthetic turf field; stadium lights at Piner High School, the last in the district without them; and additional classrooms for the Comstock Middle School/Cesar Chavez Language Academy campus.

More than 100 people filled the auditorium and lined the walls of the Santa Rosa City Council chambers Wednesday night. The majority were dressed in Maria Carrillo High School colors and held signs reading “Got turf? Not us,” “Safe fields and equity now” and “Give Pumas our pride back.”

“With all the green here, I can’t imagine what you’re all here to speak about. But I guess we’re gonna find out,” said Donna Jeye, board president, joking about the number of parents, students and staff in the audience wearing Carrillo colors.

Wednesday night’s approval was for the largest of three funding allocations rolled out to Santa Rosa City Schools since voters approved Measure I and Measure L, totaling $229 million, for repair of the district’s campuses. Officials say they’ve identified $1.2 billion in needed repairs.

The board’s vote was an approval for the district to begin the projects’ designs, said Rick Edson, chief technology and bond officer for the district, and not an exact representation of the projects’ final cost. Once bids come in for each project, a process that is expected to begin toward the end of the school year, the board will have final say on cost.

Construction is expected to begin next summer, though a number of board members urged that once the district starts the bidding process, higher ranking should go to contractors that promise an earlier completion date.

“I think it’s critical,” said school board member Bill Carle.

“If you tell us this can get done by mid-November ... I want to pick the person who can get it done in November.”

At the Comstock Middle School/Cesar Chavez Language Academy, $16 million is being allocated to add classrooms in an effort to accommodate its growing student population.

Also, an additional $15 to 18 million was approved for estimated roofing repair costs at various schools - just half of the repairs officials say are needed - and $7 to 10 million for heating and cooling systems. There isn’t yet a finalized list of schools that will receive those improvements.

“We know there is a huge need for both HVAC and mechanical upgrades, as well as roofing throughout the district,” Edson said. “We are going to determine, based on our biggest needs for those two items, which schools get that first.”

The board’s vote to begin the process was a long time coming, said members and coaches of Carrillo’s athletic teams, about 50 of whom turned out in uniform for the meeting.

“It’s something we’ve been dealing with for over a decade,” said Debra LaPrath, the girls soccer coach at Carrillo.

“I feel like I have the right program with the right kids and the right caring families. I just feel like I’m in the wrong district.”

Piner High School families had also waited and watched as other, better-funded schools found money to pay for their own stadium lights.

The $2 million Piner High distribution includes not just the long-awaited lights, expected to cost $550,000, but also foundation and landscaping, perimeter fencing and site upgrades, as well as contingencies in case of design changes, Edson said.

“I do want to address some comments made about perhaps we’ve neglected you, we don’t care, we’ve let things slide too much,” Jeye said. “That crisis was so bad ... we no longer have librarians in our district. We didn’t lay off teachers. We didn’t raise class sizes.

“What we did is deferred maintenance, and that has come at a very, very high cost.”