SCHOOLS SEEK SUMMERTIME CREWS; DISTRICT SCRAMBLES TO GET REPAIRS UNDER WAY.Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer With millions of dollars at the ready and students gone for the summer, the Las Virgenes Unified School District Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) is a K-12 school district in north-west Los Angeles County, USA consisting of 14 public schools in the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, and several small portions of the West Hills section of Los Angeles. finds itself in stiff competition for contractors to complete more than 100 projects. ``This is a crazy one,'' said Tim Hoyt, the district's Measure R project manager. ``We just have a ton of work that's going on. . . . They're not all big, but when you get multiple projects like that it gets complex. There will be work at every school site.'' One reason the Las Virgenes district is having an especially busy summer is because Measure R, which was approved by voters in November 1997, provided the district with $93 million in bond money. By comparison, last summer the district completed about 10 projects. This year Measure R will finance about 70 percent of the more than 100 projects. ``Now that we have the funding we can finally take care of the much-needed repairs,'' Hoyt said. ``It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to stop putting Band-Aids on.'' Summer 1998 projects include extensive roof repairs, air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. upgrades, addition of portable classrooms, painting and carpeting, many of which have gone unattended until Measure R passed. Other projects, like retrofitting and modernizing, must be done in stages. ``Come the end of summer they will realize that some great things have been done,'' he said. The Las Virgenes district expects to spend between $3 million and $4 million on summer projects at its 13 schools and district offices. Neighboring Oak Park Unified School district Oak Park Unified School District (OPUSD) is a K-12 school district in southeast Ventura County, California, USA. It consists of six public schools in the community of Oak Park. expects to spend $425,000 on its six schools this summer. The districts are competing with each other, with Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Unified and with districts all across Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, for the skilled workers to attend to their longtime school problems, like roof leaks and antiquated air conditioning systems. ``We're not getting an influx of bidders'' Hoyt said. ``This is probably one of the busiest summers around the whole Los Angeles County-Ventura County area in the last 15 years.'' Because most school sites are largely deserted for the summer, every district wants to cram as many repair and building projects into those three months as possible. ``This is our only chance to do it unless we wait until next summer,'' said Donald Zimring, the assistant superintendent for business at Las Virgenes. But the high demand for contractors reduces their availability. ``There are fewer contractors in key areas,'' Zimring said. ``I don't see it getting any better in the near term.'' Some projects in the district have required creative bidding, he said. At some sites, two different contractors will work on different roofing projects at the same time, Zimring said. White Oak Elementary in Westlake Village will receive some of the most extensive work this summer. The school is especially proud that its normal summer activities, like summer school, YMCA YMCA in full Young Men's Christian Association Nonsectarian, nonpolitical Christian lay movement that aims to develop high standards of Christian character among its members. and drama club will not be affected by the extensive repairs, said Fran Madison-Cohee, White Oaks' principal. ``We're managing to work around the construction work,'' Madison-Cohee said. White Oak projects include roof repairs, the addition of sinks to portable classrooms and a new parking lot with 13 student drop-off spots. Despite help from school guards and the Sheriff's Department, morning usually means gridlock Gridlock A government, business or institution's inability to function at a normal level due either to complex or conflicting procedures within the administrative framework or to impending change in the business. at White Oak, Madison-Cohee said. ``There's really no place to get off the street in order to drop your children off,'' she said. ``It's stop and go. Or stop and stop.'' Four of the school's relocatable classrooms will receive new roofs. El Nino rains attacked one portable classroom with such force that students had to be moved from it, Madison-Cohee said. ``We have been rained on quite a bit,'' she said. ``They have been in dire need for quite a while.'' In addition to a shortage of contractors, school must strive to complete major projects in the limited time available during the summer break. ``It's very difficult to do that much work in a short period of time,'' Hoyt said. SUMMER SCHOOL REPAIR Oak Park Unified School District Brookside Elementary: carpeting, sidewalk repairs, drainage repairs, addition of portable classroom. Oak Hills Elementary: slurry/asphalt, roofing, carpeting, restrooms, tree/shrub replacement. Red Oak Elementary: add portable classroom, drainage repairs, landscaping, hardscape hard·scape n. The part of a building's grounds consisting of structures, such as patios, retaining walls, and walkways, made with hard materials. [hard + (land)scape.] lunch area. Medea Creek Middle: lunch area hardscape, paint arcade, gym floor, repair/replace doors, add portable classroom. Oak Park High: slurry/stripe staff parking, gym floor refinish re·fin·ish tr.v. re·fin·ished, re·fin·ish·ing, re·fin·ish·es To put a new finish on (furniture). re·fin , painting, carpeting, carpentry, air conditioning replacement. Oak View High: paint trim/doors add sign and flagpole Total estimated cost for Oak Park Unified summer projects: $425,000 Las Virgenes Unified School District A.E. Wright Middle: painting, install automatic sprinklers, repaint Re`paint´ v. t. 1. To paint anew or again; as, to repaint a house; to repaint the ground of a picture. s> Verb 1. street markings, add classroom, modernize bathrooms, roof repairs. Agoura High: Install gym lights, roof repairs, add office trailer, add front stairway, modernize bathrooms, replace air conditioning controls. Bay Laurel Elementary: add sinks to portable classrooms, add classroom, drainage to kindergarten and library. Chaparral Elementary: paint exterior, add sinks to portable classrooms, add bathrooms to lower level, install phone CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. units. Calabasas High: new wall for photo lab, repair gas leaks south of gym, install auto flush valves, extensive air conditioning replacement, install Internet cable, painting and repair to dividing walls, building renovations. District office: install trailer, remodel re·mod·el tr.v. re·mod·eled also re·mod·elled, re·mod·el·ing also re·mod·el·ling, re·mod·els also re·mod·els To make over in structure or style; reconstruct. upstairs and downstairs. Lindero Canyon Middle: replace ceilings, install auto flush valves, seal and repaint walls, walkway replacement, driveway and parking repair, replace food-service trays, roof repair. Lupin Hill Elementary: design air conditioning system, repair doors, add parking, add sinks to portable classrooms. New preschool: electrical and plumbing site work, plan building. Round Meadow Elementary: parking lot reconfiguration, add drinking fountains, modernize bathrooms, add sinks to portable classrooms. Sumac sumac or sumach (sh  `măk, s Elementary: replace all asphalt, re-roof shed, roof repairs, add sinks to portable classrooms. Willow Elementary: repair storm drain, new kindergarten classroom, replace classroom decks, add sinks to portable classrooms, roof repairs, add ramps. White Oak Elementary: refurbish four portable classrooms, add parking lot, repair portable roofs, add sinks to portables, add storm drain, roof repairs, add kindergarten playground, office remodeling remodeling /re·mod·el·ing/ (re-mod´el-ing) reorganization or renovation of an old structure. bone remodeling . Yerba Buena yerba buena (yĕr`bə bwā`nə), trailing evergreen perennial (Micromeria chamissonis) of the family Labiatae (mint family). It is native to W North America and especially common to woodland areas along the Pacific coast. Elementary: replace ceilings, repair irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. , work room expansion, add sinks to portable classrooms. Total cost: between $3 million and $4 million CAPTION(S): Box BOX: SUMMER SCHOOL REPAIR (See text) |
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