Pasadena Unified approves long-awaited Sierrra Madre campus rebuild

Stuck in limbo for three years due to

budget concerns and bureaucratic snafus, plans to rebuild Sierra Madre Middle School got a long-awaited thumbs-up from Pasadena Unified school board members on Tuesday, prompting cheers from some 200 supporters who packed the meeting room and hallway outside.

Construction will start next month at the site of the former campus and is set to wrap up in March 2015, school district Chief Finance Officer John Pappalardo said.

Sierra Madre Middle School was bulldozed in July 2010 after officials moved students into portable temporary classrooms on the expectation that California’s Division of the State Architect would approve construction plans within a few months.

But the permits didn’t arrive until August 2012 — leaving students without a computer lab, gymnasium, lunchroom and other basic amenities for years.

The project hit another snag in January, when the school board rejected construction bids that came in $9.5 million dollars over the $22.5-million budget, which had been scaled down from $30 million after the state cut funding for school construction projects.

The $27.8-million contract approved on Tuesday — the product of a second round of bids — was still over budget but appeared to reflect the true cost of construction, Pappalardo said.

The work will be funded by proceeds of the $350-million Measure TT school bond that was approved by voters in 2008.

The school board voted 5-1 to approve construction, with Kim Kenne opposed and Renatta Cooper absent.

Kenne, who had also opposed a Feb. 26 resolution in which school board members committed to rebuilding Sierra Madre Middle School, questioned the wisdom of expanding its capacity from 375 to 550 students at a time when declining enrollment is leaving other schools with empty classrooms.

Board member Tyron Hampton, who had previously signaled opposition due to budget overages, said he received some 1,500 emails from supporters that changed his mind.

Those messages convinced Hampton that temporary facilities were inadequate and “painted an image of the district as making promises but not keeping promises,” he said.

Parents whose children attend Sierra Madre Middle School and its feeder elementary schools said approval of the new campus inspired greater confidence in the school district.

“This has been a long time coming, and we feel like our voice mattered,” said Penny Ibbotson, who has children at Sierra Madre middle and elementary schools. “The decision wasn’t about money or politics. It was about doing the right thing.”

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