Glendale school board OKs building contracts for five campuses
The Glendale school board approved spending more than $44 million to construct five permanent classroom buildings at five schools that will replace portable classrooms as well as modernizing the science lab at Crescenta Valley High School.
Board members cleared the way to spend $44,557,128 during a special meeting on Tuesday with a combination of Measure S bond funds and state funds that target overcrowding on school campuses.
Construction on the buildings will begin this summer, and is expected to be complete by September 2017, according to district records.
A two-story building at Jefferson Elementary will be built by the La Crescenta-based Chalmers Construction Services that will have 12 classrooms at a cost of $5,820,000. Chalmers will also construct a one-story building with six classrooms at Lincoln Elementary, which will cost $7,333,311.
ACC Contractors was on the agenda to build permanent buildings at La Crescenta, Fremont and John Muir elementaries and work on the science lab at Crescenta Valley High School.
However, board member Greg Krikorian questioned whether the same contracting company could build all four projects concurrently.
“I don’t see how they can handle all of our projects,” he said.
Glendale facility officials tried to assure Krikorian that they have vetted the company.
“In this case, we had no reason to think ACC was not a reputable firm,” said Alan Reising, director of facilities for Glendale Unified.
School board President Christine Walters said that if the board did not approve the contracts, the school district would be at risk of losing $25 million in state funds “for projects that we’ve actually promised these schools that we are going to do,” she said.
The contracts with ACC Contractors eventually passed, with Krikorian dissenting.
A two-story building with 10 classrooms will be constructed at John Muir Elementary at a cost of $8,995,242, while a two-story, 20-classroom building will be constructed at Fremont Elementary, which will cost $10,100,000,
A two-story structure will be built at La Crescenta Elementary, which will cost $12,308,575, and the modernized science lab at Crescenta Valley High will cost $4.5 million.
--
Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
