Wiseburn Unified bond update: network hardware installed; Holly Glen TK conversion under construction; district recommends flooring, ceiling refresh

The Wiseburn Unified School District board received Bond Program Update No. 14 at its Jan. 16 meeting. NAZ project lead Shrini said all network infrastructure hardware for the district's upgrade "will be installed" by the end of the reporting week and that the project will move into software configuration, testing and punch-list completion.

Phase 2 of the districtwide project is planned to begin this summer and will focus on door access controls, but Shrini and staff warned that the schedule depends on the Division of the State Architect (DSA) review schedule for DSA-submitted design packages. "Our intention is to start that project or access controls this coming summer," Shrini said, adding that architects are preparing DSA submittals and that DSA comments could delay the start.

Holly Glen TK conversion: Facilities staff reported that construction broke ground Jan. 6 on a project to convert existing spaces into four adequately sized TK classrooms with individual restrooms, a shared workroom and storage. The contractor began demolition and structural work immediately, and staff said structural beams arrived without long lead delays. The doors addition (to provide TK access from an adjacent kindergarten building) is scheduled to begin June 13 after school ends; substantial completion for those early summer projects is planned for July 9 with final closeout by Aug. 8.

Playground and shade structures: The board heard that the TK playground equipment has been ordered through a CMAS purchase to secure 2024 pricing; staff will publicly bid the installation. A mandatory bidders' walk is scheduled for Feb. 18 with a March 12 bid opening and a planned June 16 start of work.

Flooring and ceiling-tile refresh: Facilities director Noemi (staff member) and Sherry (staff member) presented a recommendation to use a piggyback contract with vendor Kaya to complete flooring, ceiling tiles and related FF&E refresh across district sites. Given a short summer window, staff said Kaya's piggyback would shorten procurement time. The district's rough order of magnitude for the full four-site program was about $7 million; staff said revised Kaya pricing is now in line with that ROM. The recommendation was to move forward with two sites for this summer'Aviation Elementary and Weisberg Middle School'so the district could continue summer-school operations at one campus.

Implementation details and impacts: Staff said move-management costs and packing/unpacking are not included in the $2.5 million site-scope number and will be contracted separately; the district described a white-glove mover service to limit staff burden and said teachers would pack only a small number of personal boxes. For gym floors, staff said the disciplined schedule could require roughly a month of downtime for a gym while contractors prepare subfloor, moisture-test and install the new athletic roll-on surface (OmniSport) and that bleacher removal and mechanical improvements may be a separate, larger project outside the Kaya scope.

Other site updates: Facilities and maintenance reported a localized mice problem at Holly Glen linked to nearby construction. The district said Orkin visited repeatedly, traps and bait were placed where students would not access them, custodial staff disinfected affected rooms, and the district bought snap-tight containers for teachers to reduce food attractants. Staff also reported distributing masks to school nurses during recent poor air-quality days.

Ending: The board did not vote on a final contract during the Jan. 16 meeting. Staff said they would bring a recommendation to the board at the next meeting to approve the Kaya piggyback for the summer phase if the board chooses to proceed.