Troubled San Carlos school construction finished — finally

Discussions about the project have significantly shifted in tone since last year, when officials expressed consternation over the significant amount of time and money sunk into the campus rebuild.

“It’s an exciting thing to see this project come to the finish line,” said Superintendent Michelle Harmeier, according to video of a July school board meeting. “I know it has been a long, hard journey.”

Perhaps most notable in the redesign process was finishing Charter Learning Center on time for the first day of school for the new year, as delays to deliver the school’s classrooms dammed up work on the rest of the campus.

The hardship started when GrowthPoint Structures, hired by the district to place classrooms converted from storage containers at the Charter Learning Center campus, missed its initial delivery date in 2016, setting off a series of delays.

The state agency charged with certifying campus construction plans was also blamed by district officials for the struggles to get the project moving, as the permits were withheld much longer than officials anticipated. A portion of the permitting delays has been attributed to the district ordering two-story structures from GrowthPoint, which had never assembled such buildings.

The postponement required officials to hold off on completing Mariposa School, a new campus designed to accommodate fourth- and fifth-graders who will continue onto Tierra Linda Middle School, while the Charter Learning Center continues to operate as an independent entity.

While the Mariposa School campus was under development, officials had discussed moving fourth-graders into makeshift classrooms constructed in the school library, until the unconventional plan raised concerns among parents who preferred their students stay at their home campus until the new school was complete.

But with all construction work complete, fifth-graders are occupying the campus and fourth-graders are slated to join the campus next year, which will be the final piece to finish the project.

The overall cost of the project is yet to be determined, said Harmeier in an email, as officials are still in the process of calculating the actual expenses. Projections last year though suggested the construction cost at least $5 million more than initially budgeted. She said she expects the final amounts to be calculated in the next two to three months.

Officials previously projected that state grant funds as well as money from the district’s Measure H facilities bond passed in 2012 would provide much of the financing for the project. Meanwhile, some have raised fears that the additional money required to finish the campus would preclude the district from finishing all the projects identified in its facilities master plan.

As the three schools open together on the campus, Harmeier said work must be done to assure families understand the traffic management techniques required for students to make it to class safely.

But such initiatives only amount to minor kinks compared to the significant hurdles already cleared to finish the project, evoking enthusiasm from Harmeier regarding the final steps in the process.

“Having three schools in that one area will be really exciting,” she said, according to the video.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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