Big changes arrive this summer at Atherwood
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers REASON TO SMILE- Atherwood Elementary School Principal Kathleen Roth sits in one of the school's new kindergarten classes while teachers Chrissy Oliver and Gail Garcia read the kids a story. Atherwood underwent construction in 2006, and the second phase of the project- paid for with C4 bond money- will begin this summer.

Atherwood Elementary School will be getting a brandnew look.

The school with the highest original percentage of temporary buildings in Simi Valley Unified School District has set a date to begin the second phase of an improvement project that began June 16, 2005, on the first day of summer break.

"We are basically replacing a portable school with a school that's been constructed brandnew," said Pedro Avila, director of facilities and planning for the district.

A multipurpose room, kitchen, lunch shelter, administration building, library and five classrooms will be constructed. The project also calls for the modernization of 10 existing classrooms and the parking lot, which will be expanded to include a safer student drop-off zone.

Avila estimated it would take about 18 months to finish.

"With new construction and modernization, there's going to be greater capacity for using technology in the classroom," said Principal Kathleen Roth, who's in her first year at Atherwood after three years as assistant principal of Simi Valley High.

Like several other C4 bond improvement projects, construction at Atherwood has been hampered by rising building costs.

The entire Atherwood project was originally budgeted at about $13.3 million of C4 bond measure money. Today, the actual cost to complete Phases 1 and 2 is estimated to be around $15 million.

In October 2007, the school board approved an additional $2 million for the project, most of which will come from developer fees from the Big Sky development. Sycamore Elementary and Royal High schools will also benefit from those fees.

The job walk- an on-site gathering of all contractors who may want to submit a bid- is scheduled for March 14. Bid opening will be April 23.

Atherwood is already reaping the benefits of the project's first phase, completed before the 2006-07 school year.

Ten new classrooms were built, including three kindergarten, four firstgrade, one fifthgrade and two sixthgrade classrooms. The sixthgrade and kindergarten classrooms are adjacent to each other.

"It's nice to have our oldest students and youngest students in the same vicinity on campus because we buddy them together for our reading program," Roth said.

In the reading program, sixthgraders read to kindergartners and help them develop their reading skills.

"It's also nice to have older kids nearby in case of an emergency," Roth added.

The final phase of construction will include modernization of the "400" building, which was part of the original school built in 1972. All portable buildings will be removed when construction is complete.

"Our staff has been really terrific in terms of being flexible and patient," Roth said, "and in the meantime, making sure that quality education is occurring at Atherwood." Still, she said, "they're gearing up for the second phase."