District staff expect all facilities at Las Animas that were not
completed by the school year’s start to be ready for students by
Nov. 1, with many finished within a few weeks.
Gilroy – District staff expect all facilities at Las Animas that were not completed by the school year’s start to be ready for students by Nov. 1, with many finished within a few weeks.
When Las Animas Elementary School opened its doors Aug. 23, teachers, parents and students had to navigate through clusters of landscapers and the holes they had dug.
The district had five construction projects still underway or incomplete by the first day of school. However, the district is working on the projects and will have two significant facilities ready for use when students return from the three-day Labor Day weekend, assistant superintendent of business services Steve Brinkman said.
The delays will not result in any additional costs to the district or school, he added. However, they have angered some parents, concerned about student safety and quality of education.
Unassembled jungle gym structures, which sit cordoned off in the back area of the playground, are a danger to children, said Vanessa DeLeon, mother of two Las Animas students.
“Any child could climb on one and fall off,” said DeLeon, who met with principal Silvia Reyes previous to school’s start. “She assured me that the playground would be put together.”
Representatives from the school did not return repeated phone calls and Reyes’ voicemail was full so no message could be left for her.
Brinkman said the district takes child safety very seriously and is making certain the structures pose no threat to children.
“We’ve taped off the area and we’ve got yard supervisors,” he said. “We’re watching it real close.”
Brinkman said the smaller playground would be ready today and the larger playground would be ready Tuesday. The delay was the result of the playground’s provider being overloaded with projects prior to the school year’s start. The district could get compensated for this delay.
Another of DeLeon’s complaints, that students were being served lukewarm lunches made off-site, will also be rectified Tuesday, Brinkman said. The district has tested the cafeteria for fire safety and will start cooking lunches in the kitchen when students return from the holiday weekend.
The district will complete three other projects – landscaping, constructing shade structures and putting grass on the playing fields – during the next two months, Brinkman said. The delays are not the result of recent events, but a work stoppage due to rain during the school construction’s start in spring 2006, he said.
“Everything would have been finished but we got started two months late,” he said.
