SPUSD Board honors employees,
discusses architect for new school
December 19, 2014
By Brian D. Wilson
Santa Paula News
The Board of the Santa Paula Unified School District recognized employees of the month and discussed an architect for the new East Area 1 K-8 school at their most recent meeting.
The two employees named this month are Thelma Bedell teacher Jodie Green and Gabriel Barreto, the Classified Employee of the month, also from Bedell School.
Principal Jeff Robinson introduced the two honorees. He noted that Green came on board in the former elementary school district as a kindergarten teacher at Grace Thille School. She moved up to second grade at Thille for three more years. She went on to work as a reading teacher for six years at Glen City School.
Robinson said he got to know her when he became an assistant principal at Glen City. “I really learned to respect her for her expertise in reading and witnessed how the staff respected her knowledge,” he said. After another year as a second grade teacher at Glen City, followed by a year at Barbara Webster School, she requested to transfer to Bedell.
Robinson also had high praise for Barreto. He said the school office manager came up with the letters BCE (Best Custodian Ever) to describe Barreto. Robinson added, “The beautiful campus of Bedell isn’t that way by accident. It doesn’t get that way without the dedication of a person like Gabe. He’s there day in and day out. I can’t think of a time when the school has not been ready to go in the morning, because if Gabe isn’t there to open it himself, he arranges to have somebody else do it. He’s there to serve the students and the staff throughout the day.” Following the presentation Robinson gave an overview of activities at Bedell.
In another matter, the board discussed an architect for the new East Area 1 K-8 school. Two firms were being considered. The District worked with the developer to select an architect of record for the project. The District issued a Request for Proposals and received six responses. From the six firms four were selected by a committee for interviews.
On November 21st the four firms were interviewed by a committee consisting of Alfonso Gamino- Superintendent, Donna Rose -Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, Doug Henning - Bond Construction Manager, Jeanette Justus - Consultant to the District, Harold Edwards- President & CEO Limoneira, and Gary Gibbs- Consultant to Limoneira. Two firms (Flewelling & Moody and PJHM Architects) were selected to continue onto the next steps; Board Presentation and site visitations.
On December 3rd both firms made presentations at a Special Board Meeting and answered board questions. On Friday December 5th District staff and Board members conducted a site visit to schools selected by the firms. Board member Chris Wilson said the group seemed to favor the Flewelling and Moody designed school in Palmdale. He said the first school in Chino were in groups of eight or 10 with internal hallways, “And walking around the campus we couldn’t tell that there was a school; there were no kids. Everybody was sort of locked inside.”
He said that at the Palmdale school the kids weren’t trapped inside. “Even in the parking lot you could see kids running around outside,” he added. Other board members expressed similar feelings. December 3rd presentations, Board President Michelle Kolbeck said Flewelling and Moody were enthusiastic about the project. “Their enthusiasm was there,” she said. “They’re willing to help us work toward the vision.”
Future costs for Architectural Services will be paid by the Developer per the Mitigation Agreement.
In another matter, the board approved paying the costs of a traffic study surrounding Santa Paula High School. The tab is put at $22,735.
The study will include an inventory of the street network in the vicinity of the high school, traffic and pedestrian volumes (counts will be conducted during peak weekday school traffic periods and during athletic or other high attendance activities), and preparation of a list of potential improvements. The study will take place in January. The school district and city will receive a draft report to comment on before a final report is issued.