One Española School Board member attended the groundbreaking for what will be the District’s future home. Outgoing President Pablo Lujan was at the Feb. 22 ceremony, that marks the beginning of construction for the more than $2.4 million central office and transportation hub complex.
Robert Sanchez from Alcalde’s R&M Construction, Rio Arriba County Commissioners Alex Naranjo and Barney Trujillo, and District Facilities Director Adán Cordova, joined Lujan at the brief ceremony. About 20 people attended the event at the old Española Junior High, on Hunter Street.
Board Member Ruben Archuleta said he didn’t attend the ceremony because Lujan scheduled the groundbreaking on a Tuesday morning, even though he and fellow Board member Yolanda Salazar, informed him they could only meet Monday or Friday.
Sanchez promised to keep the work local by hiring Rio Arriba County-based companies to do the subcontracting work, such as Española-based S&M Builders.
Once crews start work, Cordova expects the project to take no longer than six months. It should be ready by the start of the 2017-2018 School Year.
On Sept. 7, 2016, the Board chose R&M Construction, LLC, an approved Cooperative Educational Services vendor, for the no-bid contract, to build the new central office and transportation hub.
Cordova expects the project to cost between $2.4 to $2.6 million, with Gross Receipts Tax included.
Lujan said the District chose the no-bid route, through Cooperative Educational Services, as opposed to seeking competitive bids, to streamline the process.
“We wanted the process to be as fast as possible,” he said. “So we can get everything moved back into central office and get central office to function the way it should.”
The District didn’t have to seek bids or proposals for the project because the Cooperative was created through a Joint Powers Agreement with the state’s 89 school districts, with the sole purpose of streamlining the procurement process.
However, Cooperative Executive Director David Chavez attended a November 2016 Board meeting to explain how the process works.
Although Cooperative companies like R&M Construction go through a vigorous process before becoming approved vendors, he said districts should use a vetting process to make sure they are getting the best deal possible.
“When our vendors apply, we evaluate them 60-percent on qualifications and 40-percent on price,” Chavez said. “I recommend you call at least three vendors, because not all vendors are equally skilled with a project,” Chavez said. “So, I encourage our clients to call three vendors not based on price, but based on qualifications.”
Track and field
Workers from Bosque Farm’s Lone Mountain Contracting are preparing to install new turf on the Española Valley High School football field.
The turf is part of the $1.5 million track and field project. Once crews finish that portion of the project, they will move on to the track, lighting and press box.
Cordova said the project is on schedule and should be complete sometime in mid-April.
Concerned citizens and frustrated parents attended an October 2016 Board meeting to speak out against the project. The parents were upset because they felt District officials were trying to award a bleacher contract of more than $372,000, to School Equipment, Inc., without properly advertising it. The company once employed former coach Richard Martinez.
Martinez worked for the company, installing playground equipment at Alcalde Elementary School during the summer of 2016.
An unidentified School Equipment, Inc., representative attended the October meeting, but offered no comment when asked if someone from the District has promised to award his company contracts, if he agreed to hire Martinez.
Renovations
and other things
District officials are in the process of obtaining the plans and directions they will need to move forward with renovating two of the District’s elementary schools.
Once the Public Education Department signs the contract, Architects from Santa Fe’s John Barton Architects, LLC, will begin drawing the plans that will serve as a blueprint for the Abiquiú Elementary renovations.
Cordova expects the plans will take about eight to 10 months to complete.
The on-again-off-again Velarde Elementary renovation project is waiting to gain the approval of the Public School Capital Outlay Council, who must decide if, and how much, it will allocate to fund the renovations.
Council members, in 2012, allocated nearly $2.7 million for the project, but pulled the money back once the Board announced its intentions to forgo the renovations and close the school.
However, in what some called a bid to win favor with voters, the Board rescinded, in September 2016, its previous decision to close the school.
Cordova said at this point, it is too early to tell what type of renovation the Council will fund for the Velarde project.
“We are still awaiting the award of either the standard- or the system-based renovations from the PSCOC (Public School Capital Outlay Council),” he said.
He said the Council is probably busy keeping up with the 2017 legislative session, but once it’s over, things should move along.
“I believe once they get out of the (legislative) session, we’ll be able to see what they decide,” Cordova said. “They did table the standards based (renovation) but it is still out there and could be a possibility.”
A standards-based renovation means a complete overhaul, which is what Abiquiú Elementary School will undergo, while a systems-based renovation includes focusing on particular systems, such as heating and cooling.
In the meantime, Velarde and San Juan elementary schools, as well as Española Middle School are in the process of undergoing roof, heating and cooling system repairs.