As the money from the Measure E bond — $99 million given to the district for new infrastructure and school resources — runs out for the district, the school plans to conduct renovations over the summer that will impact teachers, sports teams and outside organizations, essentially shutting down most of the campus from early June to mid-August. 

The district plans to install new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC) in some wings, replace the baseball field’s grass with turf, install new roofs and remodel the covered walkways and the engineering lab. The replacement for the single-paned gym windows will be done next year and the installment of a new pool shade will take place between next year’s water polo and swim seasons. 

While most of the campus is off limits to employees and the public, some facilities will remain open amid renovations, including the lower field, which will be open to band camp and athletic programs; the tennis courts, which will be available for summer programs; the music building, which will allow the music program to prepare for its summer Europe tour; and the McAfee Center, which will continue to be rented out. 

Additionally, band camp and athletic programs will have to share the lower field and make modifications to their schedules to optimize usage of the limited facilities. 

In total, 24 classrooms will have new HVAC units and roofs installed. Teachers have been directed to move all their items out before the construction date on June 3.

One such classroom is Room 106, occupied by math teacher Kristen Hamilton, who has taught in the class for 14 of the 15 years she’s been at the school. For Hamilton, the renovations are an opportunity for her to go through her belongings and discard unnecessary items, though she is worried some of her items may be lost in the hecticness of construction. For example, the desks are the only dual entry desks in the school, so she hopes she gets all 36 of them back. 

“There are always issues that come up with construction, and we have a lot of other hands involved. Hopefully [the moving] stays very organized, but I can really just hope for the best,” Hamilton said. 

Hamilton also said her classroom will likely be “barren” for the first few weeks back from summer as she works on redecorating her classroom; nonetheless, she is looking forward to classroom renovations. 

“[The Air Conditioning (AC) system] hasn’t worked for a really long time, and it’s really hard to concentrate when the temperatures get warmer — I even had two students faint in my classroom once,” Hamilton said. “[Everyone] is really happy about the AC renovations.” 

In Hamilton’s classrooms and the 24 teachers whose classrooms will be remodeled with new HVAC and roof units, teachers will likely not be able to access technology besides WiFI, such as projection systems, according to assistant principal Brian Thompson. 

“Since no one is allowed in the construction zones, the technology team has a very narrow window [to rebuild the technology infrastructure],” Thompson said. “They will receive access just before school starts, so there’s no time for a fully functioning technology system in those classrooms.” 

The school’s technology team will be working closely with contractors to determine when they can access classrooms, which will have projectors, smart boards, connectors and roof mounts removed to prevent them from being damaged during construction. 

Between the end of construction and the first two weeks of summer, the school plans to have a “phase-approach” to reinstall technology in all the 24 affected classrooms. The administration has also met with the impacted teachers to prepare alternate lesson plans for the first two weeks of school in case the technology is not yet up and running. 

The remodeling of the engineering lab is the only renovation that has already started, and all engineering classes have moved to Room 902. The engineering materials were stored across from their new classroom in Room 706, long-term substitute Andrew Dimock’s previous English Classroom; as a result, Dimock had to move out of his classroom to room 501 in two days in mid-February.

“I was not fully moved into that room, [but] I had gone to some trouble to decorate the walls with things that had connection to what we were learning,” Dimock said. “The move wasn’t that difficult except for that it had to be accomplished quickly, and that caused a little disruption.”

The renovations have also impacted organizations that normally rent campus facilities over the summer, such as Maxwell Soccer, Los Gatos-Saratoga Recreation and Verve Lacrosse. The administration has been working with these renters to relocate to other facilities, such as Los Gatos High, temporarily for this summer.

Additionally, sports teams that typically operate over the summer will be affected by the renovations, and athletics director Rick Ellis has already started coordinating with the Los Gatos administration to share their facilities. 

Despite the impact it has had on the school and its summer programs, Ellis is glad the renovations are happening. 

“It’s definitely a double-edged sword,” Ellis said. “On one hand, we’re getting all these amazing renovations done to the campus. However, shutting down a high school campus isn’t practical — students who play sports or participate in summer activities on campus are, so to speak, getting the short end of the stick because they don’t have facilities to use.” 

To ensure that project timetables are not behind, Thompson will be having weekly occupant-architect-construction company (OAC) meetings to discuss the progress of projects, many of which have already started. During these OAC meetings, Thompson and the site administrator meet with the contractor, architect and project managers, whom the school hired from Greystone Construction Company to facilitate the projects. Meetings have begun for many of the construction projects. 

However, because there are “so many variables and so many projects,” Thompson said there are no backup plans in case projects fall behind, as that will be determined through a case-by-case basis. 

“If there are delays, we will work with our school administration to come up with alternative plans, and then principal Greg Louie or I would communicate that to our staff and students if it impacts them,” Thompson said. 

In the end, Thompson believes all this effort will pay off for both students and staff. 

“[The school] will be fantastic when we return,” Thompson said. “We will have upgrades for all of our students and staff: excellent heating and air conditioning, roofs that no longer leak when we have rainstorms and a state of the art engineering facility.”