Los Cerritos Elementary School students
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Updates

South San Francisco Unified School District Bond Projects Getting Finishing Touches

 

August 6, 2015

 

The South San Francisco Unified School District is moving forward with the completion of several Measure J projects this fall and we are excited to share this wonderful news with our community.

 

The District currently has four active construction sites: South San Francisco High School, Junipero Serra Elementary School, Buri Buri Elementary School and Parkway Heights Middle School.

 

At South San Francisco High School, all scheduled construction will be completed by the opening of school except for two elevators, which have to be inspected for operational use and we anticipate this happening by September 2015. Once they pass inspection, all of the new classrooms will be functional. All students will be in classrooms by the opening of school.

 

For Junipero Serra Elementary School, all scheduled construction is anticipated to be completed by the end of August 2015. The District ordered roofing material which was delayed by the manufacturer, thus setting back the completion by a couple of weeks. Administration has plans in place to ensure all students will be in classrooms by the opening of school.

 

Buri Buri Elementary School is one of the largest construction projects in the district and has been scheduled in phases to accommodate instruction. Currently, Phase I is nearing completion and is anticipated to be finished in September 2015. There was a delay in the roofing material being delivered; so, Building D and the Administration building will not be ready until September. All students will be in classrooms at the site for the opening of school.

Phase II and the final construction of Buri Buri is anticipated to be completed in the spring of 2016.

 

Parkway Heights Middle School is also nearing the completion of Phase II out of three phases. However, Building D will also need the elevator to pass inspection and be fully operational in order to be occupied. The District anticipates this occurring by the end of September 2015. All phases of construction at Parkway are scheduled to be completed by September 2016.

 

Lastly, a forensic examination was completed for the District on the Measure J $162 million bond program. All bond funds are accounted for and all current projects are fully funded. Owing to unanticipated increased costs, the district has identified alternative funding sources to complete all bond projects as originally planned.

 

As the District moves forward to the completion of these current bond projects, we look forward to starting construction at Los Cerritos Elementary School and Sunshine Gardens Elementary School in the summer of 2016 and Martin Elementary School in the near future. 

Forensic Examination Follow Up
 
July 2, 2015
 
Ever since initiating an independent review of its construction processes, the District has been working on solutions to implement some of the suggested process improvements. Even before the audit report was completed, the District was proactive on implementing new procedures to ensure the highest quality outcomes for its construction process.
 
District staff will be working with a CPA firm to enhance and create stronger standard operating procedures as we move forward.

Please see each of the findings below followed by a brief explanation of what the District has been proactively doing and will be doing in the future.
 
  • Award and Contract Language: Although the majority of the projects have been completed, the District may seek to recoup any monies potentially owed. In the future, any and all contracts will be hard bid and the lease-leaseback method will not be utilized. The District will also create and enhance policies on selecting construction vendors. The District will work with legal counsel to determine what other remedies against third parties may be available based on prior contract language.
     
  • Extensive Contract Amendments: The District is not accepting any additional contract amendments/change orders without first thoroughly reviewing them for necessity as well as reviewing the original contract to ensure the work is not duplicative of existing obligations.
     
  • Construction Manager Role: We have involved the construction manager with the day-to-day operations in the field as well as at weekly bond team meetings. The construction manager will play an active role in ensuring the work is performed to the district standards as well as conduct reviews of all pay applications and change orders for accuracy, accountability and transparency.
     
  • Improper Use of Contingencies: Contingencies for the current projects have all been exhausted. However, in the future, contingency funds will be limited to the specific project for which there were allocated and not the entire construction process.
     
  • Approval of Change Orders: All change orders will be reviewed through the construction manager, facilities director and then the Asst. Supt., Business Services before going to the full Board of Trustees for review and approval/disapproval. No change orders will be signed off from the District without having prior Board approval.
     
  • Review and Approval of Payment Applications: All pay applications submitted to the District will have all of the required signatures on them before even being reviewed by staff. Staff will then ensure the work has been completed and will sign off before they are presented to the Asst. Supt., Business Services for approval.
     
  • Payments in Advance of Work Performed: No payments will be made for portions of work not fully completed. All paperwork submitted by the contractor will be thoroughly examined and verified before being submitted to accounting for payment.
     
  • Incomplete Bids: The District does not intend to utilize the lease-leaseback method in the future so all construction projects will go to bid and the District will work with the architect of record to ensure all bids meet the requirements of the construction projects.
     
  • Financial Status: The District has been and will continue to assess the financial status of the Measure J program. Every effort is being made to value engineer the projects in order to use every dollar to capacity.
Looking Ahead During 2015 and Beyond

As of July 2015, there are currently four projects with active construction:
  • Junipero Serra Elementary School
  • South San Francisco High School
  • Buri Buri Elementary School
  • Parkway Middle School
Three other projects will begin in the future and are:
  • Martin Elementary School
  • Los Cerritos Elementary School
  • Sunshine Gardens Elementary School
District staff are working every day to ensure that these projects are completed to the highest quality standard and that everyone is being held accountable on a daily basis for the entire process.

The District will continue to strive for accountability and transparency and will continue to communicate and work with all stakeholders to ensure that everyone is kept informed as the Measure J projects continue to move forward and are completed.
Full Independent Review of Measure J Bond Program

 

On November 2, 2010, South San Francisco Unified School District voters overwhelmingly passed our Measure J bond measure with a 77.5% yes vote. The community’s commitment to its schools and local students was clear in this vote. Our school district is grateful for community support and committed to ensuring that we provide safe and modern classrooms, labs and other school facilities to help our students succeed.

 

To keep our commitment to transparency, our community, students and staff, the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees recently directed an independent, third-party review of our full Measure J program, the results of which we will share with the community tonight.

 

First, I want to say that we are proud of all of the improvements we have completed with Measure J funds. We kept our promise to the public and have completed or are in the process of construction on high-priority, large-scale projects to renovate our schools for improved student safety and learning, including at Buri-Buri Elementary School, Parkway Heights Middle School and South San Francisco High School.

 

In addition, we completed essential district wide projects, including prioritizing the replacement of deteriorating portable classrooms; upgrading and adding new science labs and science classroom wings; improving safety systems; replacing aging infrastructure, such as wiring and plumbing; renovating aging restrooms and improving safety in our athletic facilities and play yards. We have accomplished so much, but there is still more to do.

 

Part of this Board’s duty to the community, students and staff is to ensure that we remain focused on our commitment to complete bond projects consistent with the Measure J project list. We enlisted the community in this effort through an independent Citizen Bond Oversight Committee that reviews bond expenditures and projects. We are grateful for the committee’s work, engagement and oversight throughout our bond program.

 

In furtherance of our commitment to transparency, this Board also voluntarily directed a third-party forensic examination of our Measure J program to ensure that we can complete the high-priority projects we promised voters we would deliver and to ensure that our bond program employs the best management practices.

 

The third-party examination revealed that due to unforeseen project cost increases, driven in part by recent economic growth, and in part by project oversight issues, bond funds were overspent by approximately 6.8%, which represents approximately $11 million of the voter approved $162 million bond. The report also found that all Measure J funds were spent on projects to improve our schools.

 

The district and Board of Trustees are committed to completing all promised Measure J projects and we have identified alternative sources of funding to complete those projects. The district has already made changes that address many of the findings and recommendations of the third-party auditing team and district staff will continue to work to ensure that there are no further oversight issues with the Measure J program.

 

Many of the auditing team’s recommendations aim to improve the flow of information about the bond program to the Board and our district’s Citizen Bond Oversight Committee—information that we need to perform our oversight functions. The district will be pursuing any and all remedies available based on the findings of the examination and will be working with counsel to determine next steps.

 

Our Chief Business Official, Michael Krause, will explain to you very shortly the changes we have made to address the examination report’s findings and recommendations.

 

Transparency, accountability and oversight are a necessary part of our district’s culture and the Measure J bond program. We will continue to provide Measure J updates to the community to this end, just as we are doing tonight.

 

Judy Bush

President, Board of Trustees