With a new school year ready to commence, the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District heard an update on the Measure S bond projects at Thursday’s meeting.

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. Projects completed to date include technology infrastructure upgrades at all schools, playground upgrades at the elementary schools, fixing the roofs at Benicia Middle School and Mary Farmar Elementary School, and renovating Benicia High School’s stadium.

Measure S Bond Director Roxanne Egan provided an update on the bond projects at the July 31 Citizens Bond Oversight Committee meeting which she relayed at Thursday’s school board meeting. At the time of the CBOC meeting, Egan said contracts for the fire alarm replacements at Mary Farmar and Robert Semple elementary schools had not yet been rebid, but now rebidding has been done, saving $300,000 in the process. Contractors began doing work on the projects over the summer, and Egan said progress has been moving along swiftly.

“Contractually, they are required to finish by the end of February,” she said. “Conservatively speaking, I think they’re gonna be done by the end of winter break.”

Additionally, Egan said surveillance upgrades have been completed at all the schools, although with new solar panels in the upper parking lot, more work is being done. Previously, she noted, much of the surveillance of the upper parking lot was covered by a camera on top of the O-Wing.

“Building O still has coverage,” she said. “It’s not like we installed something that no longer has a function. It does, but with the low roof panels of the solar, it doesn’t hit all the good spaces. So we came back, and we’re installing security cameras on the upper parking lot that’s underneath the solar work. That’s in progress, it is anticipated to be completed before school starts on Monday.”

The final project under construction is locker room HVAC upgrades at Benicia High, which is jointly funded with Proposition 39 and Measure S bond monies.

Next, Egan moved on to discussing approved projects in the planning stages. The biggest remaining project on tap is a modernization of the Benicia Middle campus. Egan said the scope for the first phase of the project has been expanded to include moving the proposed fence area in the front from close to the building to the back of the sidewalk.

“We think that’s a good addition for multiple reasons,” Egan said. “We put buildings up there, now we’re giving them more circulation, and we can really close off that side of campus and even the front.”

Egan said the first step of approvals from the Division of the State Architect was approved a few weeks back and is hoping to have the second step approved next month. She expects the bid package will go out in October with bids due in November and construction starting in December.

Another major project in the planning stages is improvements to Benicia High’s Performing Arts Building. The district applied for a Career Technical Education grant but was not approved for funding.

“We’re disappointed that we did not receive the grant,” Egan said.

Nonetheless, she said the district would attempt to reapply. In the meantime, Egan said a minimum of $400,000 may be allocated for the project. Currently, she said a lighting scope has been identified, but it has to go out to public bid so she is putting a package together.

“It’s probably two weeks worth of work that the site won’t have access to the space,” she said. “I haven’t reviewed timelines with them, but in looking at it, it probably needs to happen when they’re not in school so that it doesn’t impact the drama program.”

Egan suggested winter break as a potential period to work on the lighting.

Other projects in progress include a modernization of Farmar’s campus, fire alarm upgrades at Joe Henderson and Matthew Turner elementary schools as well as Liberty High School, miscellaneous infrastructure upgrades, replacing Benicia High’s gym floor, alternative education improvements, security upgrades and a bathroom replacement at Henderson.

In other business, the board approved 4-0— Trustee Peter Morgan was absent— a provisional internship permit for new Benicia High art teacher Katelynn Burmark, and Superintendent Dr. Charles Young highlighted the work the maintenance and operations department had done on schools over the summer, including repainting Turner’s campus as well as Benicia High’s library.

The board will next meet on Thursday, Sept. 6.