UPDATE ON BOND MEASURE B:
COO/Associate Superintendent Glenn Evans highlighted progress in the District’s Measure B Bond Program at the January 12, 2010 Board of Trustees meeting:
Solar Project —The solar panel arrays in Homestead’s student parking lot were connected today so now both Lynbrook and Homestead High Schools’ solar systems are activated and generating power. Cupertino High’s student parking lot panels have passed inspection and will be activated soon.
EIR Status — The draft of the Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) for the Lynbrook and Monta Vista High Schools’ tracks and fields projects should be available for public circulation in mid-April unless there are additional unforeseen issues or delays.
HHS Tracks Fields — Work on the new softball, baseball and multi-use fields is progressing well but about a month behind schedule. Construction on the new soccer/football field and bleachers is scheduled to begin in February.
FHS Tracks Fields — Neighbors expressed concerns about the visual impact of the poles for the protective netting and fencing on the softball field backstops. The District is investigating their concerns and possible alternatives. Work on these fields is running about two months behind schedule. The District will probably reschedule the football field renovations to begin in June 2010 instead of November 2010.
CHS Tracks Fields — The plans are at Department of State Architect for review. The District will probably reschedule the football field renovations to begin in November 2010 instead of this spring to protect the Tournament of Bands and assure that the District has at least one lighted field open for all of the fall 2010 football season.
SOLAR PROJECT — The first phase of Cupertino and Homestead High Schools’ solar systems in the student parking lots will be energized this month and the sites/District will begin to see energy savings immediately upon activation. The Lynbrook High School system was activated during November 2009 and had already generated over 36 million Watt-hours of energy by the end of the year. The California Solar Incentive five-year rebate period begins only after the construction of the full system at a site is complete. The solar systems at the five high school sites will be completed during 2010 and 2011.
TECHNOLOGY PROJECT — During the summer of 2009, the District installed ceiling mounted digital projectors and audio systems in two buildings at Monta Vista High School. Over the holiday break, the District will complete the installation in the remaining classrooms. During the spring and summer of 2010, installation of the projectors and audio systems will take place in classrooms at Cupertino, Fremont and Homestead High Schools. Although Lynbrook High School classrooms all have projectors, within the next two to three years the oldest of them will be replaced with modern equipment.
District staff have met with several professional security consultants to review the process of needs assessment, system design, and construction oversight of updated security camera monitoring systems at the District’s five high schools. Upon completion of assessments and the overall project plan in early 2010, District staff will propose initiating a security camera project. Installation of the systems could start in summer 2010.
TRAFFIC STUDY — One of the top areas of concern for neighbors of Lynbrook and Monta Vista High Schools is traffic and parking — not only in connection with the tracks and fields renovations, but as a fact of daily life when school is in session. An elementary school and middle school are very close to each high school. At its December 15 meeting, the Board of Trustees awarded a contract to Hexagon Transportation Consultant, Inc. to conduct a Site Circulation/Access Improvement Study for Monta Vista and Lynbrook High Schools. (This project is separate from the traffic studies being done for the Environmental Impact Reports for the tracks and fields projects, but it will take advantage of those studies and expand on them.)
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORTS — The development of Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) for the Lynbrook and Monta Vista High Schools’ tracks and fields projects is actively proceeding but is running about three weeks behind schedule due to technical details in the proposed design, particularly the proposed lighting design. When the EIR development began, the project description utilized a generic specification for the use of the sports field lights as: Monday through Saturday up to 9pm plus up to six home football game per year. A study is currently underway with the five high schools to determine the actual intended use of the lights, which is much less than the generic specification. It is expected that the lower usage will provide a significant mitigation to the impact of the track and fields projects and may help reduce community objections to adding lights at those sites.
solar energizing ceremony
The Fremont Union High School District, Lynbrook High School, and Real Goods Solar “flipped the switch” to activate the new solar electricity system at Lynbrook High School. The countdown began by passing the PROUD to use SOLAR sign from Doug Payne, Real Goods Solar; to Trixie Johnson, San Jose City Council 1991-98; to Linda LeZotte, San Jose City Council 1998-2006; to Homer Tong, Board of Trustees; to Nancy Newton, Board of Trustees; to Barbara Nunes, Board of Trustees; to Bill Wilson, Board of Trustees; to Polly Bove, Superintendent; to Gail Davidson, Lynbrook HS Principal; and then to LHS ASB President Hee-Yoon Choi who flipped the switch. . . the balloon arch lifted the sun balloon high above the student and staff choirs as they sang, "Let the Sunshine In!"
REVIEW OF SOLAR PROJECT
Construction of solar electric panel arrays began in June 2009 in the Cupertino, Homestead, and Lynbrook student parking lots. All three lots were striped and open on the first day of school. Sections of the parking lots will be closed as crews finish the installation of the solar panels. Staff parking lots at Homestead and Cupertino and student parking lots at Monta Vista and Fremont will follow in 2010. Once completed the solar system will generate over $1,000,000 in savings on the District’s electric bill and that number will grow every year as electricity rates escalate.
You may be wondering . . .
If the state budget and school funding are in trouble, why are we doing construction? And why, of all things, a parking lot?
Measure B is a SCHOOL BOND that voters approved in June 2008 for the Fremont Union High School District (Cupertino, Fremont, Homestead, Lynbrook Monta Vista High Schools). By law, a SCHOOL BOND may ONLY be spent on facilities and equipment — NOT for teacher salaries, textbooks or other operating expenses. We are using Measure B funds to install SOLAR PANELS in our parking lots and those panels will SAVE the District over $1,000,000 per year. Those savings can and WILL be used for teacher salaries and educational programs!
NOTE: The Cupertino Union School District passed its own “Measure B”
in May 2009 which is a PARCEL TAX for the elementary schools and
totally separate from our Measure B.
Solar project is underway in the student parking lots at Cupertino, Homestead
and Lynbrook High Schools. The steel shade structures are in place at
Lynbrook High School ready for the installation of the solar panels. The solar
foundation forms are ready for the concrete to be poured at Homestead High School.
At Cupertino High School crews are boring the 10’ holes for the
foundations that support the steel shade structures.
