Architect, builder chosen for Hermosa Beach school projects
North School, which is currently used as a preschool, will be extensively renovated with funds from the recently passed Measure S. Photo
The Hermosa Beach City School District has selected the architect and construction management firms that will handle projects paid for by funds from Measure S, including the rebuilding of North School.
SVA earned the nod as the architecture firm, and Bernards will serve as the construction management firm. Both firms are based in Southern California, and have handled recent projects in nearby districts; SVA served as the architect for the remodel of Redondo Union High School, while Bernards oversaw the building of Mira Costa High School’s math and science building.
The presence of local projects helped guide the board’s decision.
“It comes down to a project that I’m most familiar with, and someone whose opinion I value very highly,” said board member Carleen Beste in arguing for SVA, referring to the recent redesign of Redondo Union, and Steven Keller, superintendent of the Redondo Unified School District.
But the selections, which occurred at a board meeting last week, revealed school board priorities for the district that will impact local schools for years to come.
Each of the finalists in both categories emphasized sustainability, with the board members setting lofty goals for minimal energy use. Appropriately, after selecting the architect and building firms, the district also approved a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to examine the construction of zero-energy facilities.
“This was a historic night. It set the pace for so many things to come. This board understood how that one building will help set the future of Hermosa,” said Robert Fortunato, a local environmental activist.
Board members also said they made their selections intending minimize the effects of construction, and the completed buildings, on surrounding residents. The campaign over Measure S featured fierce opposition by some residents, including those in the area surrounding North School. During the discussion over architects, board member Patti Ackerman said that she was drawn to SVA by a story shared during a presentation about a past project in which architects from the firm visited with a residence near the project to assuage their concerns.
“It was a very nice point. And something they’ll probably have to do a lot of in Hermosa Beach,” Ackerman said.
Measure S, approved by voters in June, will provide $59 million for capital improvements. The existing campuses, Hermosa View and Hermosa Valley, will see improvements and modernization, but the lion’s share of the money will go to rebuilding North School, a district-owned facility that had previously served as a school but was shuttered in the 1980s during a time of declining enrollment. It currently serves as a pre-school, and is expected to open to third- and fourth-graders in 2019.
The reopening of North is designed to ease overcrowding in the district, which is now overenrolled by hundreds of students. Both campuses have deployed portable trailers, and last year a teacher’s lounge was converted into a classroom.
But during the campaign over Measure S, opponents questioned whether an additional campus was needed, predicting that enrollment would again decline.
The latest enrollment information from the district complicated the picture. The total number of students in the Hermosa district declined for the second consecutive year, dropping from 1,432 in June to 1,379 on the first day of school, according to Superintendent Pat Escalante.
But much of the decline, Escalante said, is attributable to the district’s elimination of all-day kindergarten, a program that would return with the expanded facilities Measure S will allow for.
Additionally, while declining birth rates following the 2008 financial crisis have put districts nationwide in something of a demographic valley, Escalante said that trend has been reversing itself over the last few years.
“We’ve been in a pretty good set of circumstances, and now you can barely leave your front door without running over a stroller,” she said.