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Hoover High renovations on track

June 6th, 2008


Patrick Lundgren of Lundgren Management, left, and John Fenton, from Glendale Administrator Planning, talk about the plans to join the two quad areas together. (Tammy Abbott/News-Press)

Glendale school’s $22.9-million upgrades, which include a new wing, are moving along.

By Angela Hokanson
Published: Last Updated Monday, May 26, 2008 10:33 PM PDT
NORTHWEST GLENDALE — A $22.9-million modernization project at Hoover High School is a fifth of the way done, with a newly expanded student services wing expected to open by the end of May and work on the school’s main courtyard slated to begin this summer.

Construction on the project began in the fall and is expected to be finished in April 2009, said John Fenton, the school district’s administrator of planning, development and facilities.

The project includes upgrades to classrooms, changes to make the buildings accessible for people with disabilities, a new front entranceway and a revamped courtyard that will be connected to the school’s lower quad.

The Hoover project is one of the last Measure K-funded projects planned in the Glendale Unified School District. Measure K is a $186-million facilities improvement bond that voters passed in 1997.

Modernization work is nearly done on the school’s student services wing, which sits on Glenwood Road and will serve as the primary point of entry into the school.

That wing, which has been expanded, will house the school’s career center, counselors, administrators and attendance officials.

“It’s going to be very welcoming, it’s going to be very open,” Principal Kevin Welsh said about the student services wing.

The changes to this wing will give it a more organized, user-friendly layout for students and visitors and create more room for school staff to meet and collaborate, Welsh said.

Before, the wing was crowded, with narrow hallways, and it was difficult to find appropriate space for confidential conversations, he said.

“It was difficult to provide services,” he said.

While the new wing has been under construction, school administrators and staff members have been squeezed into a temporary building on School Street, and other classrooms, Fenton said. Staff members should be able to move into the new wing by Memorial Day weekend, he said.

Classrooms on the second and third floors of the student services building have also been renovated, Fenton said.

Those improvements include upgrades to the electrical system and fire alarm system, and changes to the hardware on doors to make them more accessible to disabled students.

Classes moved back into those completed rooms from temporary bungalows over spring break in mid-April. The school’s library was also moved back into its old location, Fenton said.

But since then, other classes have shifted into the bungalows so that renovations can take place in otherbuildings, Fenton said. Students and staff members will continue to shift into bungalows in waves as the construction progresses and their buildings are affected.

Starting this summer, construction crews will tackle the school’s main courtyard, which is being opened up with the addition of stairs and ramps leading up from the ground floor. A portion of a wall that currently separates the main courtyard from the lower quad will be demolished, allowing people to walk directly between the two spaces.

Connecting the two outdoor areas will create a more physically unified school, hopefully prompting students to mix between groups more than they do now, Welsh said.

“Sometimes it was ‘the two Hoovers,’” he said.

The modernization will also include the installation of two new elevators to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, renovations to the student locker rooms, and a revamped front entrance with new stairs, ramps and columns.

“A lot of the upgrades on this campus really revolve around handicapped access,” said Patrick Lundgren, a project manager with Lundgren Management Corp., which is providing construction management services for the project.

Modernization has affected students in a few ways, 17-year-old Sean Azizi said.

Construction noise can be heard from certain classrooms, and it can be distracting, he said.

And the work limits the routes in which students can take to get to class, he said.

Even though the changes to the quad will be highly visible, teacher Jean Schaffert thinks the renovations to the locker rooms are one of the most important changes the school will see.

“The locker rooms are in not-great condition,” Schaffert said.

Improving the locker rooms might motivate students to work hard in physical education class, she said.