Next up in alphabetical order — I’m skipping Alameda High School for now — is Bay Farm Elementary School on Bay Farm. Here’s the basics
- Year Built: 1991
- Total Site Area: 8.0 acres
- Building Area: 30,800 sf
- 10 Portables: 9,600 sf
- Classrooms: 31
- Identified repair cost: $2,594,313
And the site map
:
So most of the photos are of really awful disrepair of the portable buildings. And honestly the majority of the costs for fixes are just nickle and dime amounts of things that seem like it has been left unrepaired for so long it just the cost is just the cost of deferring the maintenance.
It’s just $20,000 here another $70,000 there and it just adds up so quickly to become a huge bill.
Some of the larger costs are similar to the Academy of Alameda’s costs. The flooring is at the end of its useful life, it will cost $200,000 to replace. Roofing at the end of useful life, $116K. Exterior doors at end of life $211K to replace.
Here’s a good photo of some of the pavement repair that is needed causing tripping hazards all over the campus:
This next set are all photos of disrepair on the portables. If you look at the quick facts about Bay Farm Elementary there are 10 portables on the site. It’s interesting but I noticed some of the worst photos of the Academy were also of the portables as well, which begs the question if these portables aren’t really meant to last, are they really good investments given how they just end up thrashed?
This is a photo of rainwater running off from the gutters on to the wood which creates, you guessed it, wood rot.
Blogging Bayport Alameda 
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Comment by Jack R — July 1, 2013 @ 9:22 am
I do think the schools should be fixed. A lot of the water problems and dry rot could have been avoided by diverting the rain gutter water away from the building. That is just common sense.
Comment by frank — July 1, 2013 @ 9:27 am
I believe when Bay Farm Elementary was designed, there was a provision for one additional pod of classes on the campus, so the school could be expanded when the population warranted it. Certainly a brand new building costs more in the beginning than a bunch of portables, but in the long run isn’t it better?
Comment by Not. A. Alamedan — July 1, 2013 @ 10:02 am
Deferred maintenance is always a budget buster. The longer routine repairs are neglected, the more complex and extensive the repairs, and that means greater cost. But the district has been struggling for years to provide just the basics, even with an occasional bond or parcel tax to help them over being starved for money, and deferred maintenance is one of the easier things to do to not spend cash that is needed for instruction (I still don’t get the people who decry paying our teachers, since without them, there are no schools – who do they think is going to deliver the knowledge to the kids? It’s a core need.). A well maintained school is necessary for learning. Excessive cold, heat, leaky roofs, rotting floor boards, moldy carpeting are distractors; you would not want them in your house so why do people think that its o.k. for kids? Oh, I guess i forgot the part about not wanting to be taxed for anything and asserting that schools can function beautifully with overcrowded classrooms that are substandard.
Comment by Kate Quick,. — July 1, 2013 @ 11:16 am
2) Has the District done any facilities work at school sites this summer?
Yes. This summer our outstanding staff has worked hard on many facilities improvements at all schools across the District. We hope this facilities work helps teachers, staff and students start out the new school year on a positive note.
In total, during the summer of 2012 there has been in excess of $3 million worth of facilities work done, with projects at every one of our school sites.
Comment by Jack R — July 1, 2013 @ 12:28 pm
They have been doing a lot of stuff at Maya Lin, including something that involved banging and backing up trucks with loud back up bells at 5 am shortly after school was out for the summer.
Comment by Kate Quick,. — July 1, 2013 @ 1:57 pm
6. Re…”bells at 5 am…” I think that was Jon Spangler playing reveille on his handlebar ringer in order to awaken and gather his fix-it crew and get an early start redirecting raindrop gutters which..you guessed it, were pointing in the wrong direction and you guessed it causing wood rot..
Comment by Jack R — July 1, 2013 @ 5:25 pm
I guess when I see things like this, as a resident who bought a house about a year and a half ago, has no kids, and get to see just how high my property taxes are, a lot of which goes to local Alameda Schools, while I am not against spending my tax dollars on schools, its a little ridiculous that there are such levels of disrepair being shown here. Amazing because I came from another part of the country where property taxes are far less costly and somehow the schools are not only generally newer, but in also comparatively better condition. Am I missing something here?
Comment by Bill — July 2, 2013 @ 2:57 pm
# 8 I have to agree we bought our house 8 years ago before the prices went up and down but we pay a $13-14 thousand a year in property taxes…we are first time homeowners so we don’t fit under anything prop 13. That is why the schools are so bad because some people who owned their house for years don’t pay anything and they want to put more parcel taxes on us. We don’t have kids either.
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Comment by joelsf — July 2, 2013 @ 3:35 pm
#8 Everyone pays Parcel taxes. Prop 13 only deals with appraised value of the Parcel and basic Property Taxes. Added on are Parcel Taxes and assessments. They are pretty much the same for all Parcels with the exception of the last School Parcel Tax which was assessed based on the physical size of the Property.
Comment by frank — July 2, 2013 @ 4:40 pm
#8 #9, you poor guy’s came from another world, you now live in California and have to pay for that very important right to live here in the most wonderful place on earth.
Comment by John P.(L) — July 2, 2013 @ 6:18 pm