pomona usd plans for improvement - hmc...
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Pomona USD Plans for ImprovementBy: Dr. Thelma Melendez, Superintendent, Pomona USD (back row, fourth from left),
2008-09 Superintendent of the Year; and Dr. Glenn Massengale, HMC Architects
President Barack Obama (top center) visits Pomona Unified School District’s Village Academy High School students
Photo courtesy of: Kim Washburn of VMA Communications Spring/Summer 2009
The Pomona Unified School
District, like all school districts in
California, is facing so many issues
it’s hard to know where to begin.
The District has been declining in
enrollment for the past several years.
The District itself, and many individual
schools within the district, are identi-
fied for program improvement. The
District is experiencing public rela-
tions issues related to campus safety,
quality of instruction, and internal and
external communication. Financial
resources are shrinking while ex-
penses are increasing. And the cam-
puses themselves are aged and need
repair. So, what’s so unusual about
these conditions? Nothing: what is
unusual is the approach to remedy
them. Pomona USD has decided
to consolidate the issues under a
single framework and address every
concern as part of a coordinated effort.
The framework is aptly titled, “Master
Framework to Manage, Maintain, and
Program District Facilities.”
Isn’t this just a fancy name for conduct-
ing a facilities master plan? Actually,
no—what is unique about the Pomona
framework is that the facilities master
plan is being used to develop and
implement a complete school reform
package. Although one of the primary
purposes of the effort is to improve the
condition and relevancy of the facilities,
the planning process engages a variety
of stakeholders in discussions about in-
structional quality and curriculum needs;
community perception and engage-
ment; equity of resources; community,
business, and higher education partner-
ships; enrollment loss and competitive
standards of performance; finances and
other resources; and organizational and
operational models for success. The
approach itself ultimately proposes
to focus resources on a consolidated
effort for comprehensive school and
District improvement.
Advisory and high school cluster com-
mittee workshops and community
dialogues were held during the spring
of 2008. An electronic staff survey was
conducted in May 2008. As a result of
these various forums, data regarding
the critical issues of the District was
collected, analyzed, and presented to
the Governing Board in the summer
of 2008. Final recommendations were
presented to the District prior to its
successful $235 million general obliga-
tion bond election in November 2008.
Pomona USD engaged HMC
Architects in 2007 to begin the
development of this framework.
Continued on page 3
Inside:2 Portable to Permanent—
Transforming a High School
5 HMC Cost Exchange
6 Partners Seeking Solutions
post consumer recycled fiber
Portable to Permanent–Transforming a High School By: Don Lussier, Coordinator Facilities Division, Corona-Norco USD; Kevin Wilkeson
and Steve Wilkerson, Principals, HMC Irvine; and Gilbert Baez, Project Manager, HMC Irvine
The Corona-Norco Unified
School District is currently
utilizing the Overcrowding Relief
Grant (ORG) to replace portables
with permanent construction at
Centennial High School.
The campus is 20 years old with
more than 50 portable buildings
added in previous years. The
campus was
originally
designed
for roughly
1,800
students
but currently
serves almost 3,000 on a site just
shy of 40 acres. The new expansion
project includes removing 42 single-
story portables within the central
area and replacing them with a new
classroom building, multipurpose
building, and large outdoor quad.
The two-story, 40,000-SF classroom
building will house 26 standard
classrooms and a special education
component as well as a graphics
classroom partially funded through a
Career Technical Education grant. The
new 15,000-SF multipurpose building
will serve as an auxiliary gymnasium
as well as a place for students to
dine during inclement weather. Both
buildings were designed to CHPS
criteria, and both were recently DSA
approved. The expansive 75,000-SF
quad will provide the students a place
to gather, enhancing the sense of
campus community.
The Portable to Permanent Program
is an ideal avenue for the District to
convert this school from a dense
facility into a revitalized campus
with a new image. The project is
currently entering the second of
four phases: interim housing has
been constructed, and students
have moved into this temporary
location. The classroom and
multipurpose buildings will begin
construction in summer 2009,
followed by two later phases that
include the new administration
building, theater, and an additional
classroom building. The additions
and improvements will give the
campus an entirely new look and
feel and provide an effective and
dynamic learning environment that
supports education and academic
success. These changes will
transform Centennial High School
into an efficient, inviting facility that
supports the District’s goals of
learning and student achievement
well into the future.
For more information contact
Don Lussier at:
www.hmcarchitects.com
Central Valley1827 E. Fir Avenue, Suite 103Fresno, CA 93720559.268.0228
Imperial Valley619 Paulin Avenue, Suite 106Calexico, CA 92231760.768.5200
Irvine2601 Main Street, Suite 100Irvine, CA 92614949.567.1833
Las Vegas770 E. Warm Springs Road, Suite 120Las Vegas, NV 89119702.315.4203
Ontario3546 Concours StreetOntario, CA 91764909.989.9979
Los Angeles633 W. 5th Street, Third FloorLos Angeles, CA 90071213.542.8300
Reno50 W. Liberty Street, Suite 800Reno, NV 89501775.322.9475
Sacramento300 Capitol Mall, Suite 1230Sacramento, CA 95814916.325.1100
San Diego1010 Second AvenueStudio 810, West TowerSan Diego, CA 92101619.744.4077
San Jose1570 The Alameda, Suite 330San Jose, CA 95126408.977.9160
Advocates for Labor Compliance1906 S. Commercenter East, Ste. 211San Bernardino, CA 92408909.890.2220
School Advisors3546 Concours StreetOntario, CA 91764909.945.6890 2
“This design will meet the diverse educational needs of
our students in a 21st-Century way.”
Samuel Buenrostro, Principal, Centennial High School
L-R: Gilbert Baez, Principal
Buenrostro, and Don Lussier
www.hmcarchitects.com
GoverningBoard
Governing Board
Reinvigoration ProcessPomona Unified School District
Cluster Group Input
parentsstaff
administration
CommunityInput
community leadersindustry partnershigher education
parents
AdvisoryCommittee
schooldistrict
community
Facilitators
Pomona USD Plans for Improvement
3
Key areas of work and deliverables
for the project included:
• Conducting numerous meet-
ings and workshops with the
Governing Board, District staff,
staff from school sites, parents,
and members of the community
• Developing enrollment
projections, capacity studies,
and site analyses
• Organizing high school cluster
groups and conducting work-
shops to assess critical needs
• Developing an inventory and
feasibility study of available
unused properties
• Forming a district-wide
advisory committee and
conducting workshops to
assess critical needs
• Assisting a community outreach
consultant to conduct relevant
community dialogues
• Creating a re-invigoration
process to review the District’s
core premises
• Developing options for school
configuration and program
development
• Recommending school
reconfigurations and school
specializations
• Developing funding options
and strategies
Continued from page 1 The broad scope of the study
encouraged a thorough,
comprehensive examination of the
District’s operations and allowed
for a wide range of options to ad-
dress the identified critical issues.
Additionally, the inclusive nature of
the planning process itself served
as a model for improving commu-
nication internal and external to the
District. The protocols used for the
collection of information, analysis of
data, and development and review
of options were developed into a
model for the District to use in a
re-invigoration process perpetually.
So, in effect, this framework for
conducting a review for facilities be-
came the prototypical process for a
comprehensive review process and
served as the mechanism through
which an entire school reform
package could be implemented.
The final framework report was
delivered to District leadership in
March 2009. As part of the re-
port, key reform elements were
identified as recommendations to
the Governing Board and District
administration.
The recommendations were to:
1. Create coordination and
collaboration of resources among
schools and the community
2. Provide safety and security for
students, staff, and visitors
3. Provide parents and students
choices in curricular offerings
and types of schools
4. Achieve consistency in grade
level configurations and sizes of
schools
5. Achieve curriculum articulation
and provide career pathways
6. Stabilize student enrollment
7. Provide quality facilities that
support quality programs
8. Provide school campuses with
“curb appeal”
Each of the recommendations
was supported by detail to create
an implementation strategy for
each goal.
Specific strategies included the
reconfiguration of some school
sites within each cluster.
Developing K-8, K-12 and 7-12
specialized schools were cited
as specific strategies to accom-
plish parent/student choice while
creating signature programs and
career pathways through schools
in each cluster. Implementing
a comprehensive maintenance
program was a specific strategy
for improving the curb appeal
of each campus, making the
campuses secure and safe and
improving the perception of the
schools in the community.
The noted educational writer
and teacher, Michael Fullan,
reminded us that “problems are
our friends.” Without engaging
the difficulties and complexities
of some of the problems facing
education, we become power-
less to take on the task of solv-
ing them. The Pomona Unified
District has embraced that spirit
in addressing its problems by
developing its Master Program to
Manage, Maintain, and Program
District Facilities.
schoolnews - spring/summer 2009
Dan Benner, AIA, Principal
During the past 20 years, Dan
has helped more than 25 school
districts modernize and expand
their facilities. He will continue to
focus on schools, tapping his
wealth of leadership experience
involving design, oversight, and
project administration to develop
facilities that are user-focused and
responsive to client needs.
Dan is based in the
Ontario Office.
Jeff Berrios, AIA, Project Manager
Jeffrey Berrios, AIA, brings more
than 16 years of Pre-K-12 and higher
education experience to HMC.
He has worked with numerous
school districts in the Central Valley,
providing programming and project
management services to build new
campuses and modernize and expand
existing facilities.
Jeff is based in the
Central Valley Office.
LAUSD ES #9 Wins 2009 C.A.S.H. Leroy F. Greene Award
4
L-R: Bill Savidge, District
Engineering Officer, West Contra
Costa USD, C.A.S.H. Chair;
Ellis Kaufman, LAUSD; Guy
Mehula, LAUSD; John Nichols,
HMC Architects; David Thorman,
State Architect of California
This new elementary school
for the Los Angeles Unified
School District is one of several
new public buildings in the City
of South Gate. The campus
includes 26 classrooms in a
new, three-story building along
with a library, multipurpose
room, administrative area, and a
one-story kitchen facility. South
Region Elementary School
#9 is designed to serve as a
community resource that will
unite the neighborhood on a
state-of-the-art campus.
Sam Bouland, Senior Estimator
Sam Bouland has joined the firm
as a senior estimator. With more
than 40 years of experience, he
has worked with numerous school
districts throughout California,
providing construction estimating,
project management, and contract
administration services, as well as
construction claims analysis.
Sam is based in the
Ontario Office.
HMC Welcomes:
The construction industry has
been hit hard by the economic
crisis, and the construction market
provides added evidence of the
impact.
Based on information provided by
Engineering News Record (ENR),
subsequent to the first half of 2008
when steel and oil prices soared to
record levels, materials such as steel,
lumber, and cement continue to
decline in price due to the declining
demand for materials. This overall
decrease in demand has also
expressed itself within the California
construction market, although clearly
not to the level experienced by the
housing and commercial development
markets. School districts are facing
significant financial obstacles (e.g.
state funding impacts and difficulties
obtaining favorable ratings to sell local
bonds), as well as declining enrollment
or reduced need. This general
reduction in demand for construction
materials and the slowdown in the
public sector have served to lower
the underlying material costs, which
of late have begun to be reflected in
contractors’ bids.
It is anticipated that ENR’s Building
Cost Index (BCI) will post a rare
decline of 0.5% in 2009 compared
to an increase of 5.3% in 2008, as
material prices continue to spiral
downward. Another index used by
ENR, the Construction Cost Index
(CCI), is projected to increase by only
1.2% by the end of the 2009, verses
a 5.7% increase in 2008. Material
pricing will likely continue to drop as
manufacturers and suppliers struggle
to compete in this period of declining
demand. Many of the historically volatile
commodities and materials such as
steel, concrete, copper, and asphalt
paving are undergoing steep declines
in demand and pricing. For example,
steel prices are projected to decrease
10.3% in 2009. And, in most areas
of the state, cubic yardage prices for
concrete have moved back down to the
mid-50 to 60 dollars per yard compared
to the well over one hundred dollars per
yard experienced in recent years. Also,
availability is no longer an issue.
On the labor side, in spite of union
agreements with automatic increases
already negotiated and in place with
the corresponding impacts to prevailing
wage, the general economic downturn
has brought over a large influx of both
general and trade contractors to the
Pre-K-12 marketplace from the private
sector, most of which have little if any
public works experience. While it is
true that the actual placing of a given
piece of block in a building may not
differ from private to public, those of
us on the public building side have
come to understand how to quantify
the numerous added technical and
administrative burdens that exist in the
educational building market. Further,
many of these contractors are from
outside a given geographic area, which
can result in a general unfamiliarity with
local building conditions and constraints.
Interestingly, this influx of non-Pre-K-12
contractors is having a transformative
impact on those contractors with
experience in public works construction.
Districts are now receiving two to three
times the quantity of bids versus a year
ago. Increased competition is typically
a great benefit to a project, but the shift
in the contractor experience base has
increased the challenges associated
with those contractors who are not
familiar with educational construction
requirements. Given that it is unclear
to all observers how long the general
slow down in the overall construction
marketplace will last, those contractors
who have traditionally focused on
public works or schools are having to
adopt new strategies in order to remain
competitive on bid day. As mentioned
above, added competition from
outside the Pre-K-12 marketplace
and a recent decline in Pre-K-12
projects out on the street have
combined to produce incentives toward
increased labor, management, and
purchasing efficiencies. Unfortunately,
in order to remain competitive, many
contractors have had to resort to
downsizing and layoffs. As a result of the
underlying material price decreases and
this added competition in the Pre-K-12
marketplace, current bid results have
shown a significant retreat in initial
pricing from the increases that were
experienced in recent years. In many
cases “bid day” pricing has produced
results 20% to 40% lower than
current estimates.
However, as we all know, a low
initial cost is not a reliable indicator
of the final cost to build a school.
Increased contractor performance
risk and default, inferior and defective
workmanship, disruptions in labor
force due to non-payment of
prevailing wage, and an increased
interest in capturing added costs for
ambiguities in design and schedule
delays are just a few of the areas that
can impact the final cost of a project.
Although each school district should
evaluate their internal and external
resources and abilities to effectively
manage these risks, a proven
approach has been to pre-qualify
bidders based on the size, type, and
complexity of the given project.
Alternatively, school districts should
consider using a delivery method
that allows for the use of a bidder’s
experience and qualifications as part
of the selection process. Although
now may be the best time in recent
years to bid your school project,
school districts should be mindful
of the risks inherent in such a highly
competitive marketplace.
Ed Mireau can be reached at:
There Has Never Been a Better Time to BidBy: Ed Mierau, President, Neff Construction, President of Association of California Construction Managers (ACCM); Dana LeSher,
Vice President, Harris and Associates, Vice President of ACCM; and Sam Bouland, Senior Estimator, HMC Ontario
CostExchangeSpring/Summer 2009
5
“With severe challenges to the construction industry, this reality also
presents significant opportunities for school districts that plan to
develop projects within this economy.”
Mitch Carp, Senior Vice President, Business Services, HMC Architects
6
L-R: Ed Mireau, Anna Ferrera, Ted Rozzi, Scott Gorzeman, and Tom Cavanagh
OPINIONSpring/Summer 2009www.schooladvisors.com
In response to the current economic crisis, School Advisors hosted “Pre-K-12
Facility Funding: Partners Seeking Solutions” in both Southern and Northern
California. The workshops addressed the financial impacts of planning and
construction for school projects across the state. Open dialog focused on
ideas and solutions to explore and promote the development of sound financial
strategies to minimize the effects of the State’s financial crisis on school
construction projects.
Held on February 11th and 12th, one week prior to the finalization of the
federal economic stimulus package and two weeks before the resolution
of the California state budget crisis, educational facility directors and other
school district representatives had the opportunity to hear from a panel of
industry experts.
Southern California panelists included: Ed Mireau (Neff Construction), Ted Rozzi
(Corona-Norco Unified School District and past C.A.S.H. Chair), and Anna
Ferrera (Californians for School Facilities). Northern California panelists included:
Kevin Gordon (School Innovations and Advocacy), Terry Bradley (Clovis Unified
School District), Kathleen Moore (California Department of Education), and Dana
LeSher (Harris and Associates). Scott Gorzeman (Bank of America) and Tom
Cavanagh (School Advisors) were panelists at both workshops.
Scott Gorzeman stated that the market had been receptive in January 2009 of
local district GO bond issuances, which had not been the case in the later part
of 2008. He also presented various alternative or interim financing options for
Partners Seeking SolutionsBy: Tom Cavanagh, Senior Vice President, School Advisors
districts held up by the State’s funding
freeze that were bridge Certificates of
Participation (COPs), Bond Authorization
Notes (BANs), and Grant Anticipation
Notes (GANs). Bank letters of credit
have become increasingly more difficult
to come by and districts are finding it
difficult to enter the market. GANs are
available for those districts that have
received an apportionment but not a
fund release. Bottom-line, there are
options available to bridge this fiscal
crisis, but the market will continue to
be volatile so it is important to keep an
eye on funding thresholds and project
commitments.
Current School Facility Program (SFP)
deadlines for normal projects, joint-use,
and CTE facilities have been suspended
or extended, providing relief for districts
without access to alternative financial
mechanisms to move projects forward.
Federal stimulus monies have been
approved. California, however has yet to
determine the actual funding formula or
when the distribution might occur.
Ed and Dana stressed the many
opportunities in the bidding
environment for those projects that
can move forward. The panelists
also cautioned about the glut of
contractors from other construction
fields moving into the education
arena and their unfamiliarity with the
laws and guidelines that govern the
construction of schools.
In conclusion, both Ted Rozzi and
Terry Bradley stressed the importance
of recognizing these difficult times
and the value of understanding the
business or financial side of your
district. They cautioned against
becoming too focused on the
facilities aspects and loosing sight of
the district’s budget situation. They
suggested everyone take this time
to position themselves and their
departments for the future. Sound
advice indeed.
Tom can be reached at:
tom.cavanagh@
schooladvisors.com
L-R: Ed Mireau, Anna Ferrera, Ted Rozzi, Scott Gorzeman, and Tom Cavanagh