By Sara Ballenger

Blach, Egan and Covington open for students

With the start of the new school year comes new teachers, new classmates and, for some students and staff in the Los Altos School District, a new school.

What began with the approval of a $94.7 million bond measure in 1998 has materialized into ripped-up concrete, sheet rock and torn-apart campuses as part of the massive facelift planned for each school in the district.

Students this fall will face the second year of the district’s construction schedule and the opening of a new school.

Every classroom is getting a facelift, with new paint, glass windows, cabinets, teaching walls - which include white boards and storage for teachers - floors and other improvements. The buildings also will be brought up to current building codes.

Since the project’s start, the district has had to scale back some of its original plans and contend with a construction industry that was spread thin, but officials say the results have nevertheless been worth it.

“Having three almost-new schools opening is the most exciting thing that’s happened in our district in a long time,” Superintendent Marge Gratiot said. “Think of the improvement in the learning environment for those students - the rooms are well lit and ventilated; the plumbing works; there are enough electrical outlets for computers and projectors; there are exciting new libraries; the science labs have hot water and power to each workstation.” Each room is also equipped with phone and Internet access.

Egan Junior High School

After a year and a half of construction, the new Egan campus is nearing completion, with all of the major construction slated to be finished by the beginning of school, Aug. 26.

“The essential construction will be done by the start of school, with our punch list of things like counters, doors, air conditioning and finish work being done in six to eight weeks,” Egan Principal Brenda Dyckman said. “When you move you have the opportunity to see things fresh and new.”

The new look owes a lot to two parent volunteers, Dee Gibson and Leigh Sullivan, who focused on the details of the renovation, from paint colors and lighting to tile in the bathrooms, Dyckman said. Green and gold are used throughout the interior and exterior of the school.

“These two women have truly devoted the last two years working with every detail to make sure the school looks warm and inviting,” Dyckman said.

Another construction project under way by a separate contractor in conjunction with the city of Los Altos are the gyms on the Egan and Blach campuses.

Almond School at Egan Camp School

While Egan is happy to move into its new campus, Almond School is making a move across San Antonio Road, to the Egan Camp School. The camp school is a temporary campus of portable classrooms, adjacent to Egan, which will house Almond students for one year while its facilities are being renovated.

Having the two schools next to each other has meant staggering start times for the school day. Egan will begin its day at 8:30 a.m., while Almond’s first bell will ring at 8:37 a.m.

“It’s a nice space,” Principal Jeff Baier said of the camp school. “It’s a different space than Almond, but it’s a great facility. It’s so much better than having construction going on while trying to teach the children.”

The move into the camp school has brought the Almond community together, Baier said.

“The staff, community and parents were so instrumental in pulling this off,” he said. “We literally had thousands of boxes to move and equipment.”

The community at Almond will move again next year, back into their renovated campus - a prospect first-grade teacher Emily Jensen isn’t looking forward to but feels will be worth it.

“The unpacking has been a lot of work, but I am looking forward to the kids coming back,” Jensen said. “It’s definitely going to be an adventure. But it will be an amazing school to go back to.”

Another new addition to Amond will the the YMCA, which will run the new child-care facilities at the school. The YMCA already has programs at Oak and Bullis-Purissima schools.

With all of the changes, the challenge lies in keeping the “Almond culture” intact, Baier added.

“The challenge is to maintain what we do well, which is educating the kids here, as well as the Almond community,” Baier said. “It’s going to be a new and different experience for the kids, but I think they are going to love it.”

Blach Intermediate School

After one year, Blach Intermediate School students and staff have been able to move into a high-performance school, thanks to PG&E.

Blach was one of only two schools in California to receive a $500,000 grant from PG&E for energy-efficient lighting, heating and ventilation designs.

“We incorporated sophisticated lighting controls, day lighting and additional sources of natural light in our designs,” said Lisa Gelfand, principal architect at Gelfand RNP.

Natural light is a central part of the school’s new design, in partnership with PG&E. There are windows in each classroom, and lights get brighter or dimmer depending on the level of natural light. PG&E is interested in having Blach as a demonstration facility to showcase its energy-saving designs.

“There is a sense of unity to the campus that was totally lacking before,” Principal Arthur Harris said. “Now it’s more inviting and it blends in well with its surroundings, so we have the best of both worlds.”

The architects capitalized on some of the features of the school’s original design, such as structurally sound steelwork, and incorporated it into the new design.

“We got so much bang for our buck, there has been a complete transformation,” Harris said. “One teacher was so excited, she brought her mom by from the Midwest to see her classroom.”

Blach, which has a camp school that was meant to house Springer School this year, will now house preschools and a few other outside contracts for the year, Harris said. Springer has moved into the camp school at the Covington School site. Loyola School is scheduled to move into the Blach Camp School for the 2003-04 school year. Blach’s gym, is scheduled for completion by the end of October.

Springer School at Covington Camp School

HMC architect firm designed the new Covington School. Covington, which was slated to open as a seventh elementary school this year, was scheduled to house its own student body comprising children from throughout the district.

The failure to pass an increase in the parcel tax in a special election April 9 cost the district about $4 million in revenue, according to the district. Unable to open the newly renovated facility as a seventh school, the district will instead use it as a camp school to house Springer Elementary during the latter’s construction phase. The decision has yet to be made as to which school will be moved permanently to the Covington site. The vacated school will be rented. The district has until the 2003-04 school year to decide.

Most of the major construction and classroom renovation is complete, with the blacktop for the playground to be installed this week.

The kindergarten classrooms at Covington each have their own bathroom, kitchen and side study area. The campus also boasts a state-of-the-art library, with computer labs and a library skills teaching area.

Principal Bob Celeste is happy that the Springer community has one more year together. After the renovations on the Springer campus are complete, some Springer students will return to the renovated campus while others will meld into the new Covington School community.

“When Springer does reopen and we go back to a new facility, we will have to do this all over again,” Celeste said. “There is a lot of preparation to make an event like this take place - community and financial support, support from the district and the parents. Everyone has been so cooperative. It’s been a lesson in total cooperation. We couldn’t have gotten this far without it.”