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Board hears strong debate over $250,000 change order to add electronic access at Wedgeworth Elementary
Summary
Facilities staff recommended adding electronic access control to the under‑construction Wedgeworth Elementary as a change order that would increase that project's costs by about $250,000; trustees questioned financing, equity and long‑term maintenance. Staff said the change can be covered by the project contingency and may save money versus retrofitting later.
Facilities staff requested board authorization to seek Los Angeles County Office of Education approval for a change order to replace manual door hardware with electronic access control at Wedgeworth Elementary. The estimated incremental cost cited by staff was roughly $250,000, which staff said remains within the $55 million project authorization and its contingency.
Facilities director explained that the district lacked the network backbone when the project was designed; with the recently approved network infrastructure, electronic access can now be integrated. The director said adding access now would be far cheaper than retrofitting later and cited benefits including remote door closure during lockdowns, audit trails of card access and one‑time programmable temporary access for vendors. Staff also described potential savings by avoiding the cost of re‑keying campuses when master keys are lost.
Trustees pressed on financing and equity. One trustee said interest and financing payments could increase the effective cost; facilities staff summarized COP financing and said the project expenditure remains $55 million while the total repayment (principal plus interest) is larger due to financing. Other trustees argued safety improvements and integration with networked cameras are a prudent investment; some urged caution and asked for more detail on maintenance, camera upgrades and long‑term funding. The board did not adopt a final, separate change‑order approval in this exchange; staff noted the application to LACOE would follow board direction as needed.
