School Site Walk Around w/ Board of Trustees

The Walk Around w/ the RDUSD Board of Trustees, Nov. 5th, 2008

Amy Eggars lead the group around RVHS campus.

RVHS Itemized Areas of Concern:

1. Entrance of the School/Next to parking lot

• Landscaping on side of bldg. needs to be re-done w/ proper irrigation.
• Walkway from parking lot needs to be joined w/ main entrance cement area. (The bldg. was cut off & the bricks still show the cut areas). The establishment of a walkway will develop a "user-friendly" message & will help in a modified transition from the parking lot.

2. Main hallway/Admin. Bldg.

• Ceiling tiles need to be replaced
• Walls need to be painted
• Display Cases need to be refurbished
• Informational signs need to be posted
• Pipes protruding from floor in Athletic Director's office
• Office area needs to be re-organized for efficiency (hallway space may be used to expand needed office area).
• Unused equipment needs to be inventoried for use or surplus
• Removal of unused equipment needs to be accomplished
• Computers in library need to be evaluated for performance & their potential to deliver curriculum & instruction. (If they are non-usable, we need to surplus them)
• Cafeteria area needs to be reconfigured & modernized to handle the flow & needs of students
• Curtains in cafeteria need to be replaced or taken down
• Electrical outlet capacity is deficient
• Many plexi-glass windows need replacement (old and worn)
• Door thresholds need to be replaced
• Broken or uneven floor tiles need to be replaced
• Wall deterioration in cafeteria under the windows needs to be evaluated & repaired
• Storefront doors need to be replaced in area leading to front of the school outside of library.
• All bldg. doors need to be evaluated & brought to code standards.

3. Snack Bar

• Patio area around Snack Bar needs to be redone. It is a hazard area. Uneven surfaces including gaps between bricks may cause someone to be hurt.
• Door coming in & out of area are not ADA friendly.
• More table & sitting equipment needed as well as expanded patio area
• Sidewalks leading to doors need to be wider
• Walkway in front of "stage" area needs to have a section for student congregation

4. Grass area leading to Bldg. E

• A more direct path should be established from parking lot to bldg, especially towards the Performing Arts bldg.
• Landscaping should be contiguous

5. Wood shop

• Front area needs: Contiguous landscaping, wider side walk & bldg. to be painted.
• Back area: Needs to be cleaned & unusable materials discarded.
• Inside of shop needs to be OSHA evaluated & certified.
• Classroom needs to be modernized or refurbished.

6. Behind Performing arts Building

• Fence needs to be replaced to accommodate for student use now & in the future.
• Landscaping (to include irrigation)
• "Performing Arts" sign designating the Performing Arts Center

7. Hill behind Bldg. E going towards gym

• Address use of the hill & proceed accordingly for the safety of students & for the cosmetics of the campus.

8. Gym

• All doors need to be re-evaluated & fixed so they lock properly.
• Paint & repair work inside & out
• Larger walkway areas around gym to accommodate student traffic
• Need a secure Weight Training Area - Currently using the stage area for this purpose
• Lockers need to be fixed or replaced
• Ventilation fans in locker & bathrooms need to be fixed or replaced
• Cap on outside electrical connection needs to be fixed (on corner of gym facing the relocatables).

9. Agriculture Building

• Crack in the foundation floor-classroom area
• Pipe stubs protruding from cement floor
• Workshop has a drain hole in the middle of the room - "hazard"
• Lots of debris & unused materials in fenced area behind shop.
• Shop needs to be evaluated & OSHA certified.
• Water pump has been removed from a fenced area by the entrance area of the front door; it is leaking.

10. Relocatables

• Cracked asphalt area needs to be re-sealed.

Principal, Mr. Laleau led the group around the Riverview Middle School Campus.

Riverview Middle School Facilities Needs 2008

1. Gym Building

• Handicap access bathrooms in Gym
• Replace lights
• Painting the gym, halls, cafeteria and band room
• Replace acoustic tiles in gym & cafeteria
• Replace windows
• Installation of rock climbing wall
• Renew the locker rooms
• Add A/C & Heating
• Modern electronically controlled bleachers
• Replace two main basketball frames & modernize winch-system

2. Administrative Building

• Replace A/C & heating system
• Fix drain/flooding problem by main entrance
• Update sprinkler system around school

3. Yard / Outside

• Replace water fountains
• Repair of retainer wall / planter boxes of patio area
• Update sprinkler system in Lower Field
• Sod & irrigate demolished building area Or
• Install parking lot w/ integrated low-maintenance landscaping/beautification w/ irrigation.

4. Portables

• Remove portable classrooms & rebuild on demolished building area.

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I attended the Walk Around that began at the high school at 1:00 PM., November 5th, 2008.

As can be seen by the above school site generated lists, there are a multitude of needs including safety concerns.

Community members may remember that the Measure U Bond for School Facilities Improvement District #1 (SFID #1) (Isleton, DH White, Riverview & RVHS) could only cover a minimum of 1/2 the need, but the district at that time decided to move forward and ask for $14 million w/ the $5 million in matching state funds, because that was what they thought was a reasonable sum that community would support.

The apparent focus for the majority of the bond monies have gone to Isleton Elementary and RVHS, some cosmetics have been done over at Riverview (paint, roof, playground), but not much else.

DH White has been in better shape overall as a campus, so less emphasis was put there.

Riverview is totally ADA non-compliant, but the challenge re: "addressing it" is that if the school district fixed just "one" ADA non-compliant issue, it will trigger a whole cascade of events through state mandated regulations requiring that ALL ADA non-compliant issues be repaired. The big problem for the district is...we don't have the 3 million needed to do that. That being said, the best we can hope for at this time is to do some cosmetic improvements and to obtain portable ADA compliant bathroom units for now (portables won't trip the code compliance cascade w/ the state).

The DH White campus needs to have a cut-out window in the front office so that staff can see who is coming and going. They had a parent w/o custody rights take a child from the campus earlier this year and the school doesn't want something like this to happen again... The computer lab needs additional wiring for additional computer stations. The windows in the portables need to be replaced (very expensive ~$250-300K). A rented portable off the playground doesn't have any storage for supplies, the kindergarten rooms are too small and the area off the kindergarten rooms is a mess (uneven asphalt surfacing, etc.).

Isleton Elementary School will have a beautiful, fully-functional elementary school that will be ready for occupancy by February, 2009.

RVHS still has many unmet needs. The bond monies are almost completely expended at this juncture. The high school has a new Theatre Arts building, teacher and student parking lots; currently there is construction on the Art building that will house Radio Rio and the Art Department/studios. PLEASE see Roxanne's clarification note in comments below. The district office has secured ~ 2.1 million dollar grant for an Ag/Science Bldg. that can be built w/ "state" bond matching funds that will be soon forthcoming. Rio Vista has only a small window of opportunity to utilize the grant monies for the Ag/Science building and EIR (environmental impact studies must be done post-haste along w/ conceptual plans so that the city can fully understand the impact on current infrastructure). The Ag/Science Bldg. can accomplish many objectives within the current curriculum goals of the district w/ extra classrooms that can be utilized for other classes and eventually expanded as need arises. The district office has to be careful in the grant request language due to state stipulations, but eventually hopes to get a decent building in place.

The Special Board of Trustees meeting allowed for citizens to voice their concerns regarding priorities, work/purchase order process (until recently the RDUSD "never" had a system in place for purchase orders and existing staff is struggling w/ the new computerized system and is begrudgingly working with it).

It was brought up by citizens several times that there needs to be a clear job descriptions for maintenance personnel and that there needs to be expectations for compliance and subsequent consequences/disciplinary action for staff that are not doing their jobs. For example, community members have seen maintenance staff just sitting around reading the newspaper when they should be working; citizens have expressed deep frustration over attempts to beautify the grounds many times, only to see it turn to dust and weeds over and over again. It was suggested that there be a re-allocation of resources toward the general maintenance of facilities so that we don't have to replace expensive structures, etc. due to simple neglect. It's difficult to hold staff accountable, document and counsel, etc., if there aren't standards and job performance descriptions/requirements.

Any citizen concerned about this issue and wants to help, contact the Superintendent and consider visiting other local school districts to obtain, if possible, electronic copies of policies and procedures that could be easily adapted and integrated for RDUSD. A contact person for Dixon Unified School District might be Sharon Talesfore, District Administrative Assistant for DUSD (she used to live in Rio Vista) 707-678-5582 / FAX 707-678-0726.

Several community members, such as Margaret Anderson, Mark Trujillo and Richard Hamilton voiced concerns that there has never been a cohesive RVHS site master plan that anyone from the community or city staff has ever seen. Any site plan would help the City to advocate for and with the RDUSD when negotiating w/ developers.

I shared the concept and plan of Rio Vista's incoming Mayor, Jan Vick, for developing and maintaining a community volunteer database that potentially the city, schools, Chamber of Commerce, etc. could all benefit from. There are software systems available to assist organizations/communities in coordinating volunteers.

The Director of Maintenance Operations shared that he and his staff spend ~50% of their time "putting out fires" and is unopposed to having community volunteers who might assist with the mountains of work required around our campuses; that he used to be the Union President and that he believes anything that will help our children would be great. The Superintendent was glad to hear that.

Many caring parents and citizens participated in the meeting and hopefully the district will be responsive to their concerns. The Walk Around process itself was very helpful for the Superintendent in getting a better handle of the needs/problems areas and it was instrumental in clearing up miscommunication/non-communication from some of the staff to the district office.

I think our new Superintendent is still in the information gathering mode, but will do his best to steer us in a positive direction while holding staff accountable for job performance.

Julie Kelly