Updates for Kofa High bond renovations to start
As Kofa High’s students abandon campus for the holiday break, construction workers will start settling in for the school’s bond renovations.
The Yuma Union High School District governing board this week approved the purchase of job order contracting (JOC) services through the Mohave Educational Services Cooperative from the McCarthy Group.
The board’s approval on a 4-0 vote (Teri Brooks was absent) allows the company to start digging trenches and arranging heavy equipment on the campus while students are on break, said Gary Rosser of the McCarthy Group.
Yuma Union voters passed a $79 million bond in 2015 for renovations to the district’s six campuses and a new district administration office and a campus for Vista High.
Kofa’s improvements are next on the district’s “to-do” list, and will include a new auxiliary gym, a new classroom/science building (simply called Bldg. No. 4 at the moment), a new lecture hall, improvements to chilled water lines, and utilities relocation, among other projects.
“Doing the JOC really compresses the (construction) schedule and we gain a couple of months of efficiency,” Rosser told the board during his presentation. The cost of the project is about $12 million over the 12-months of construction, and will move in four phases to minimize student impact.
Kofa Principal Mike Sharp also gave the monthly principal’s presentation on the school’s parent/teacher conference night that was held in September.
“We hear a lot about parent teacher conferences at the elementary level, junior high levels, but very rarely ever see it at the high school level,” Sharp said. “We felt very strongly about (hosting a conference) based on our performance indicators.”
Sharp said the event’s purpose was to build relationships between teachers, students and their parents, and to empower students and families to take ownership of their academic learning.
He said the event was well received not only by teachers, but by parents, too, as more than 520 conferences were held. Some were requested by teachers, and some by parents. What was surprising was the number of “walk-ins” the school received — 148.
The school is currently planning another parent teacher conference event for the spring, he said.
CFO Dianne Cordery gave an update on the district’s budget, noting that spending was tracking lower than at this time last year.
The district will be introducing a new and improved website soon, said Community Outreach and Communications Director Eric Patten in a presentation to the board. Information will be easier to spot and certain functions of the website will “stay with” the reader as he or she browses the site.
Student photography is highlighted throughout the new site. Pictures and word colors are compliant with American with Disabilities Act requirements, Patten said, including colorblindness.
Former YUHSD employee Ruben Rios spoke during the call to the public, and the student councils from San Luis, Kofa, and Yuma High gave the board updates on highlights at their schools.
The board’s next meeting is at 9 a.m. Dec. 12 at the principal’s conference room at Yuma High. The board will be interviewing candidates to replace former district leader Toni Badone.