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Lakewood School to receive a makeover
Modernization could cost $3.9 million
By Daniel Hindin
Lakewood School's time has come. As part of the Sunnyvale School District's school modernization plan that began in 1992, Lakewood will soon undergo a $3.9 million makeover.
"The school is going to be fully modernized," said Ben Picard, the district's deputy superintendent, of the 43-year-old school. "We're redoing all of the interiors of the classrooms with modern surfaces."
The administrative area and library will be overhauled, Picard added.
According to the district's entire plan, eventually every school will undergo roughly the same changes.
When Fairwood, San Miguel, Vargas and Columbia Middle schools were reopened over the past few years, they all had undergone extensive remodeling. The renovation and modernization of Sunnyvale Middle School was completed in 1998, and Bishop School's revamping was finished in 2000.
According to Picard, the district decided the order of the projects by taking into consideration the age of facility, current conditions and size of enrollment. After Lakewood, the order of renovation will be Cumberland, Ellis and then Cherry Chase.
Prior to Lakewood's expansive modernization project the school underwent several additional changes costing close to $750,000. This included, among other things, a playground renovation project and a technology project--all of the school's rooms now have access to the Internet.
The money for the renovations comes from a combination of a $34 million school bond initiative that Sunnyvale voters approved in 1996 and state matching funds. According to Picard, due to state funding, the entire district modernization will be completed five years earlier than originally expected. But the district's perception of how far that money can go has changed considerably in the past year.
"We're finding, unfortunately, that bid environment isn't good for public school contracts," Picard said. "Contractors aren't that hungry right now. That has changed the scope of work we can do."
Air conditioning and heating systems had to be eliminated from the original project, and a less expensive plan also had to be implemented for the school's new computer lab, Picard added.
The three remaining schools' projects will soon follow Lakewood. Picard said work on Cumberland would most likely begin as early as this summer. All of the plans are still awaiting approval of state architects.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
