As the school year continues, so does construction, slowly transforming the campus. Caution tape and fences guard the construction sites on the fields, roofs and buildings. After being demolished on Oct. 12, the upper and lower fields have been reformed into a battlefield. Clumps of grass and dirt litter the dirty hillsides. Pick-up trucks and dinosaur-looking machines drive over the remains of the fields, tearing down everything from trees to the old football bleachers.
“Field renovations should take about a year,” facilities manager Chris Kenney said. “It doesn’t look like it now, but once the [demolition] is over, we’ll start putting things back together.”
Field renovations
The demolition process is being sped up with the use of herbicides. These herbicides were put into the grass by the contractors to prevent the grass from absorbing moisture thus drying out the grass. Consequently, it is easier for the contractors to clear the field.
PE classes are especially affected by the construction. Now that a vast dirt land has replaced all the fields and the track, classes must come up with new ways to do exercises that use those areas.
“We’ll do pacers in the field house or run laps around the rally court,” PE teacher Matthew Tait said. “We [PE teachers] try to have the kids stay active even if the fields are unavailable.”
PE 9 and PE Elect classes have resorted to playing activities indoors, on the tennis courts or on the black tops. The gym and field house are used for volleyball and basketball, the tennis courts for tennis or street hockey and the wrestling room is also in use and the pool for the swimming unit for PE 9.
This close to $50 million project and its workers are part of the Robert A. Bothman, INC, a construction service from San Jose. According to their website, this general contractor constructed the newest athletic service projects at all five schools in the FUHSD, starting with Homestead and Fremont High School in the summer of 2009. MVHS is the last school in the district to renovate their fields through the company.
Roof repairment
Currently, other construction projects, such as repairing the roofs on top of the A, B and C buildings, are taking place. Certain areas around the buildings are taped off to ensure safety for the staff and students. Large construction carts extend to the top of the buildings in order for workers to repair the roofs. The roofs were all rutted from the rain and about six to ten men are working on restoring them. Over the past few weeks, the workers sealed the roofs and repaired them by reusing the undamaged roof tiles, there by saving money.
Girls locker room stairs
Other construction projects are more minor — such as new stairs across the field house leading to the girls locker room. According to Kenney, this supplement was added because administration and facility managers noticed that many girls were jumping the railing to get to the locker room doors instead of using the handicapped ramp that goes all around the hill. This new staircase was built to match the one that leads to the coaches room and so far, has gotten a positive response.
“[The staircase] is so much more convenient,” junior PE Dance student Shannon Chang said. “It saves time from having to walk all the way around and doesn’t make me feel guilty about jumping the fence.”
The final product of the fields will look essentially the same, but the baseball field will be pushed closer to the pool and all the fields will have artificial turf. According to maintenance mechanic Che Ma, the fields will look similar to those at Fremont High School.
