Taft was selected for a $145.7 million renovation due to its existing physical condition, seismic risk factor, outdated public access, number of portable classrooms and site density. (Photo by Michael Owen Baker)
The project includes construction of a competition-sized synthetic track, softball fields, bleachers, scoreboard, restrooms, bridges and a new annex building that includes a parent center.
Construction teams are hard at work upgrading and sprucing up Taft Charter High School in Woodland Hills.
A $145.7-million modernization project has broken ground starting with the football field.
Classrooms and offices are next.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Dec. 10.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2026.
It includes construction of a competition-sized synthetic track, softball fields, bleachers, scoreboard, restrooms, bridges and a new annex building that includes a parent center.
The school’s multipurpose room, industrial arts facility and administrative building are targeted for seismic improvements. Air conditioning and plumbing upgrades are planned along with various other utilities. Some of the bathrooms will be modernized.
“We are hoping the improvements will get us through the next 100 year,” said Principal Daniel Steiner. “The entire school will be painted and upgraded as far as the ADA compliance. Our campus (has) a lot of stairs and some hills, so we will be getting elevators for accessibility. Accessibility is part of the project as well.”
Los Angeles Unified School District is working to create 21st Century learning environments, including 22 comprehensive modernization projects at various elementary, middle and high schools. Funding comes from the district’s bond program, which includes voter-approved bond Measure RR.
There has been universal acknowledgement on the board about the needs to upgrade, despite political differences.
More than 100 schools were built 100-plus ago, which while historic also means there is a lot of need.
“The number I’ve heard at our board meetings is that there is over $13 billion in unmet needs in our schools,” said Board Member Nick Melvoin, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley. “And that’s everything from seismic retrofits to ADA improvement to infrastructure to sport facilities. Measure RR, the largest school bond in the country, was passed by 70 percent of the voters last November which attests to their appetite for improving school facilities and the trust they have in the school district to be stewards of that money.”
Board members want to do more than they have the financial means to accomplish. A few months ago, a resolution passed regarding sports and athletic upgrades.
“We are competing with independent schools, parochial schools and schools from other states and we need to have state-of-the-art facilities,” Melvoin said. “When I got on the board, the football stadium and the athletics were not part of the plan (at Taft). As a kid (in elementary school) I ran in track meets on Taft’s track back in the late 1990s and it looked the same, probably better back then than today.”
In an era of choice and decline in student enrollment, Melvoin said curb appeal matters to parents and schools’ effect on housing prices.
“We need to have schools look inviting (so) parents and community members feel these are schools of the future,” he added.
Taft Charter High School was selected due to its existing physical condition, seismic risk factor, outdated public access, number of portable classrooms and site density. It opened in the early 1960’s and is currently home to about 2,300 teen students.
All the sports teams this year played home games in anticipation of the renovation project.
Normally schools alternate. Next year, Taft’s football, soccer and track teams will play away.
“The district is providing busing for us to local schools and parks for our practice,” Steiner said.
The last sport to play on the field was boys’ soccer against El Camino Thursday evening in which they went down 2-1.
The next construction phase is slated for November 2022.
The district has been doing bond projects for 20-plus years.
“These large projects are very challenging, just by the scale of them,” said Alix O’Brien, deputy director of facilities, planning and development at LAUSD. “This is the only project where we use a three-contractor approach. Typically, we do two contractors. We did this just because of the nature of the site, because there are many different heights … to keep it functional we divided it into three contracts.”
In terms of COVID-19, what has become normal workplace requirements extra trailers were added for management teams to have more space.
O’Brien said ramifications from the deadly virus are showing up supply chains shortages, which presents an unstable cost situation.
“We have tons of data,” she said. “We have been building for years. We know what everything costs, but in this environment it’s a little harder for us with our cost estimate. We are seeing some impacts in furniture delivery times. We have to plan a little bit earlier because it takes a little longer. We are a well-oiled machine. We spend a lot of time on these different projects looking for trends. We can order the equipment sooner, order the furniture sooner.”