SMMUSD To Decide What To Do With MHS
Written by 991KBU on April 12, 2018
What is the fate of Malibu High School??? The Santa Monica Malibu School Board may make a decision tonight on what to do with the older part of the campus.
P C B has been discovered … sealed up in the flooring and walls …. in portions of the school that are more than 30 years old.
The Malibu Facilities Advisory Committee has suggested to the district that all of the buildings constructed before 1979 be torn down and replaced.
The superintendent says there is a desire to update and enhance the learning spaces to match 21st century learning … and this campus was designed to be a middle school decades ago.
Construction managers are balancing modernization, getting rid of the P C B … and the dwindling pot of bond money left over after Santa Monica schools reconstruction has been completed.
The superintendent says it would be possible to suspend modernization activities of the old buildings … while the school board determines the appropriate direction.
Also tonight … the school board will consider splitting Malibu and Santa Monica into subdistricts … for the purposes of school bond elections.
Voters in both cities would be asked to approve raising taxes to rebuild schools in each city … and that would put a stop to the continuing flow of Malibu property tax levies to build school facilities in Santa Monica.
The buildings that might get torn down include the main two-story Shark building … the old gym … and buildings between those classrooms.
The meeting is at 5:30 tonight … in the school district offices … on Olympic Boulevard at 16th Street in Santa Monica.
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Demolition and reconstruction of the front of the school is about to resume.
But first … a small new building is being constructed in the heart of the campus.
It will house the school’s computer and communications equipment.
Those racks are currently housed in the front of the school … which is about to be demolished.
The original site for the new nerve center had to be abandoned … when numerous pipes … electric conduits … and other obstacles were uncovered while digging the foundation.
None of those pipes or wires were on any blueprints that the district could find.
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School district official say the new single lane drop off road in front of the school is working the way it is supposed to .
The single lane is a key safety strategy that allows parents to drop off their children so that they never have to cross a lane of traffic on their way to the school gate.
The relocated lane is 30 feet longer than the drop off lane was before spring break.
Six cars fit comfortably within the drop off area.
A water valve has been installed in the former traffic area … blocking what could be a second plane.
But school construction officials say it’s better to just have one lane for cars.
