Turlock schools asking $88.8 million for safety, upgrades

Retired teacher Eric Julien does a slow 360, revolving as he points out features laying out the history of his former science classroom​ at Turlock High, explaining why passing a $48 million school bond is so needed.

​The angled, 1960s-era room is huge, 1,300 square feet, ​with four doors and a slice across its ceiling where a curtain once slid for school board meetings. A step-high dais overlooks the half-room of student desks, and on the other side, the only fully equipped lab in a high school serving 2,200 teens. Even it lacks the newer outlets for much of today’s digital equipment.

Long islands with multiple sinks line up on the lab side. Pegboard holds safety goggles and beakers along one wall. A hand and eye wash station stands ready in case of accidents below powerful ceiling suction fans. New labs require ventilation above and below, but in the architectural hodgepodge that is Turlock’s century-old secondary campus, this counts as cutting edge.

Julien’s old classroom sits at the “T” intersection of Berkeley Avenue and an unnamed connector to Wallace Street – both working streets outside of school hours, running through the campus. Across the side street stand two massive Quonset huts testifying to a major mid-century expansion, one the school cafeteria and the other the main THS gym. Across Berkeley stand classrooms, pressed into service as labs, that offer up to four sinks, though not all are still draining.

The district has spent millions in recent years to modernize and renovate the THS performing arts building and gyms. Federal funding helped bring Wi-Fi to the campus. But bringing science classrooms into this century will take a bond.

Measure O is one of two school bonds Turlock Unified hopes voters will approve to help it repair and upgrade its campuses. If the statewide school bond measure Proposition 51 passes, the money could provide matching funds for a state grant and go up to twice as far.

Measure O asks voters to approve $48 million for high school projects, including a state-of-the-art science wing for Turlock High. Top of the project list, however, are safety measures. Fencing, emergency communications, removing asbestos and air conditioning for Pitman High’s two-story classroom building are among the higher-priority changes.

Beefing up the broadband infrastructure to allow 2,200 students at each campus to sign on each morning is also on the project list, as are library upgrades and ag, business, health science and fabrication facilities for career-focus classes.

“It such old infrastructure, (students) run into problems at every turn,” said Turlock High science teacher Ryan Hollister, sitting in his L-wing classroom.

Air conditioning for the classroom building of Pitman High in north Turlock is another safety issue. Since its opening in fall 2002, teachers compensated by keeping windows and doors open on hot days. But new safety regulations require they be closed and locked during school hours, making them miserable for teachers and students alike, Julien said.

Pitman High was also built without a stadium, but pollsters found no support for paying for one among Turlock voters surveyed last winter while the board weighed the chances of passing a bond. No stadium or sports facility appears on the list of eligible bond expenses, which limits proceeds to paying for academic, career and arts upgrades, security needs and bringing facilities up to code.

Julien is now running the “Yes on NO” campaign, the slogan a twist on Turlock’s school bond Measures N and O. The letters were luck of the draw, determined by when the measures were filed, and are identical for Turlock Unified voters in Stanislaus and Merced counties.

Measure O is the $48 million high school bond, and will include voters in Chatom and Keyes elementary districts as well. Teens from those districts attend Turlock high schools. The bond is estimated to cost $29 per $100,000 in assessed value per year.

Measure N seeks a $40.8 million bond to pay for elementary and junior high school upgrades, and will not be voted on by Chatom or Keyes district residents. It is estimated to cost up to $30 per $100,000 in assessed value per year.

Passing both bonds would cost the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 around $118 a year for the life of the bonds. That is on top of payments continuing through 2032 to pay off the bonds that built Pitman and several elementary schools. Taxpayers will pay another $46.5 million in principal and interest for those bonds, an amount trimmed by $4.5 million by a 2015 refinance that did not extend the payoff date.

Top Measure N projects are high-tech security systems and fencing for elementary schools, which board members agreed are needed to protect children in a more dangerous age.

Earl, Walnut and Medeiros elementary schools were designed with open plans to meld with adjacent parks, said trustee Barney Gordon when the board voted to seek the bond. “Now we find ourselves with safety issues,” he said.

Better science, technology and arts options are also on the Measure N project list, which is essentially the same as the Measure O list. Both allow new playground equipment and renovation of school playing fields.

School bonds are paid back through property taxes and therefore are tied to the value of the school facility. They cannot be used for school operating costs like teacher or administrative salaries.

Both bonds require a 55 percent “yes” vote to pass and will need to have a Citizens Oversight Committee. The bonds specify those committees will include one business member, one senior citizens organization member, a taxpayers organization member and two parents, at least one of whom is active in a parent-teacher group.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Turlock schools asking $88.8 million for safety, upgrades."