HUNTINGTON BEACH : District Seeks Bids on $860,000 Project

Correcting structurally unsound walls at Vista View School and adding portable classrooms will cost the Ocean View School District nearly $860,000, engineers told the school board this week.

After hearing an engineering report, trustees said the estimate may be more than they are willing--or able--to spend on the renovation because of the district’s budgetary constraints.

But the board, by a 3-2 vote, agreed to solicit bids for the work and to buy four portable classrooms and a portable restroom building. Those buildings will be needed because Vista View’s interior walls will be reconfigured and the campus will become a middle school this fall.

It is estimated that the purchase and installation of the portable facilities will cost the district $273,000. That charge is included in the total estimate for the proposed renovation project.

Last fall, state inspectors discovered that the classroom partition walls at Vista View are structurally unstable. In particular, the connection between the partitions and the ceiling is inadequate, and the walls could collapse in a strong earthquake, the inspectors found.

The partitions--which actually are modified storage cabinets--serve as the walls between classrooms. Vista View was one of several “open” schools built by Ocean View during the 1970s, in which classrooms were not separated from one another. Years later, the partitions were added to cordon off individual classrooms.

An engineering firm hired by the district to assess the problem estimates that it will cost $784,000 to shore up the connections, replace the partitions, add the portable rooms and make other changes. Some of those renovations are needed to convert Vista View, now an elementary school, to a campus for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

The cost estimate could rise by another $75,000, however, if state officials order the district to also replace the school’s ceiling, bringing the total to $859,000.

The money to pay for the project--or perhaps just a portion of it--will come from the district’s special reserves.

“I’m getting concerned about the suitability of Vista View as a middle school if we have to spend so much money on it,” Trustee Lottie Hobbs said. “I have a real problem with voting to approve almost $1 million for one school. We have 16 others to worry about, too.”

Hobbs and colleague Tracy Pellman both voted against approving the purchase of the portable classrooms. They argued that until the board has made a decision on how to remedy the Vista View dilemma, it should not approve any portion of the plan.

“This feels to me like putting the cart before the horse,” Pellman said.

Board President Carol Kanode and Trustees Sheila Marcus and Carolyn Hunt, who voted to approve Tuesday night’s action, said they may also oppose the project because of the high cost. That decision is expected to be made within six weeks, after the district has received cost estimates from firms bidding to do the work.