Work is progressing on facilities renovations at Los Altos and Mountain View high schools, to the point where Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District officials still have nearly $5 million remaining for items beyond the original scope of the project.
Superintendent Rich Fischer said the district hopes to have work on the dining commons and theater buildings at both schools finished by October. Both theaters are designed to hold 350 seats. Work on the new library buildings at both schools is also scheduled for fall completion.
“We’re happy with the way things have gone,” Fischer said last month. “We’ve been lucky (with the bidding).” For instance, the district recently received a bid to upgrade tennis courts at Mountain View High School that was $100,000 under the estimate.
The $58 million facilities project, approved by voters in 1995 after three tries, is on schedule with remaining work to include a new music building at Los Altos High School, improvements to locker rooms and the gym at Mountain View, and classroom wings, student services buildings and electrical upgrades at both schools.
With the surplus money, the district plans to pour $1.5 million into sprucing up athletic fields at both schools, possibly by as early as this summer or fall.
“We’d like to do it sooner than later because things don’t get any cheaper out there,” said Robyn Phillips, associate superintendent for business services. Additional work may include replacing portable classrooms at Mountain View, and renovating administrative offices and repaving the parking lot at Los Altos.
Phillips said the target for completion of the entire project is fall 2002.
Fischer said the district’s work on the athletic fields would cover basics such as grading and reseeding, but such pluses as an all-weather track or replacing goal posts would be up to athletic boosters’ fund-raising efforts. One such effort resulted in the extra features for the new swimming pool at Los Altos High School.
