One week from now, Benicia schools will be back in session which makes it a prime time for the school board to hear updates on the Measure S bond projects.

The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District will be holding its first regularly scheduled meeting of the 2016-17 school year. As with last year, trustees will receive a quarterly update on projects that were started or completed during the summer as well as future bond projects on the table. The presentation will be delivered by Measure S Bond Director Roxanne Egan.

Measure S is an initiative that was approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding for renovation and upgrades of school facilities. Egan will be providing information on the projects funded by Measure S as well as a report on a BUSD Citizens’ Oversight Committee meeting from April 12, which discussed the general obligation bonds.

As of July, seven bond projects had been completed. These consisted of technology infrastructure upgrades at all site schools, improved phone systems at all schools, playground upgrades at all elementary schools, fixing the roof at Benicia Middle School, installing new softball field bleachers at Benicia High School and re-painting the exterior of Benicia High.

There are five bond projects in process: an upgrade of the clock, bell and PA system at all seven schools, which is currently estimated to be completed in the fall; repairing the fire alarm system at BMS, which at last report was expected to be completed Aug. 18; an IT server and disaster recovery upgrade, which is expected to be completed in the fall; a renovation of Benicia High’s stadium, which began in July with a groundbreaking scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m.; and an upgrade to the district’s camera security system, which is the only item remaining on the punch list.

Finally, there are two bond projects in the planning stages: an improved fire alarm system at Benicia High, which is expected to begin construction in the fall of 2017; and solar upgrades and additional work to satisfy the California Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Egan will also highlight a grand jury report which investigated how effective the Bond Oversight Committee was. Although one member was unable to attend meetings and voluntarily resigned but was later replaced, the grand jury concluded that the school board, Bond Oversight Committee and Superintendent Charles Young had done a commendable job questioning expenditures in the bond process.

In other business, Deputy Superintendent Michael Gardner will discuss proposed negotiations between the district and the California School Employees Association. Additionally, the board will be considering the approval of two new courses at Benicia High: Integrated Math 3, which covers topics ranging from investigating functions to analytic trigonometry; and freshman focus, a course that allows ninth-graders to identify their life goals early on and develop an educational pathway to prepare for the career of their high school career.

The board will meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, in the Benicia Unified School District Board Room at the district building on 350 East K Street. There will be an earlier closed session at 6 p.m.

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