San Francisco improves access to schools

Burlington's not the only school district working to make old buildings accessible to community members with mobility impairments...

School improves access for disabled students
Jill Tucker, jtucker@sfchronicle.com
San Francisco Chronicle, page B - 1
Tuesday, April 7, 2009

A year ago, Gaby Castro would show up at Mission High School not knowing whether she'd be able to get to her classes that day.

If the one elevator wasn't working, a weekly occurrence, Castro would be stuck on the school's second floor - her wheelchair unable to navigate all the 27 level changes scattered throughout the 84-year-old building.

And even if the elevator was working, Castro still couldn't get to many parts of the campus, including a gym and an auditorium.

Now, about a year and $18 million later, the 18-year-old senior can get wherever she wants, whenever she wants at school.

"Now it's, like, so perfect," Castro said.

In San Francisco, the district has budgeted about $255 million to ensure that about 90 schools meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements by 2012.

A federal judge is overseeing the work - everything from ramps and water fountains to scattered seating in auditoriums - to ensure that San Francisco schools adhere to a 2004 legal settlement correcting a lack of disabled access in the schools.

The Lopez case forced the district to put ADA access over everything else - sometimes leaving failing roofs or faulty boilers for later.

"It forced upon the district a legal settlement with very, very strict guidelines and timelines," said district Chief Facilities Officer David Goldin.

Voters have approved two facilities bonds in recent years, one in 2003 for $295 million and another in 2006 for $450 million. The district is also getting nearly $100 million in state bond money.

About 30 percent is being spent to fulfill Lopez requirements, Goldin said.

Ensuring disabled access never comes cheap. Take the controversial and costly ramp to bypass the five steps up to the historic podium in the Board of Supervisors chamber in San Francisco City Hall. The total renovation related to the ramp is estimated to cost about $1 million.

At Mission High School, the project required architects to make a five-story school built on a hill - one side of the building is 50 feet higher than the other - accessible.

Inside, the 600 doors of varying sizes and shapes had to open easily, especially for wheelchair users.

Every water fountain, every bathroom, every doorway was adjusted or completely redone. Each of those 27 separate level changes had to be addressed.

And they had to do something about the elevator.

"This building was never built with (the ADA) in mind," Goldin said.

The architects spent two years designing the changes. Construction took two more years, with a flurry of work during the summers. Aside from finishing touches, the work is essentially done.

There are now two elevators - one that makes seven stops, including two stops on levels that are up or down a few steps off main floors.

"I think it's all about equal access," said special-education teacher Nikki Taylor. The disabled students "can go see a play. They can go to the library to check out a book."

Upgrading to ADA standards also resulted in improvements for all students, including new bathrooms throughout the school and improvements to the historic main auditorium.

"This was really a major challenge," said Lisa Gelfand, principal of the architectural firm Gelfand Partners, as she walked through the hallways pointing out the various ramps and ADA changes. "A tremendous challenge."

While the majority of the school's 850 students will never need any of the $18 million worth of ADA improvements, teachers and students say the improvements have created equality and are worth every penny.

"That's the positive out of all this, that if you were blind or if you were mobility impaired, you have equal and free access (to) the best Mission High School has to offer," Goldin said.

Special-education teacher Tanya Derkash shudders when she recalls how students couldn't get to their regular high school classes because of the elevators.

"We would go get their work and they would come in here," she said of the second-floor special-education room.

Senior Lepa Kupu, 19, remembers those days.

Born with cerebral palsy, he uses a wheelchair equipped with a touch screen that allows him to type or select common words off multiple screens.

"I came started here our school don't ramp everywhere," he said, moving across various screens quickly to access the words he wanted.

Then he smiled as he completed the next sentence that appeared at the top of his screen.

"This year excellent."

Edmunds awarded grant

Congratulations to the Burlington School District... the Edmunds renovation project just landed a $20,000 grant. From the Burlington Free Press today...

More than $85,000 in grants have been awarded to 19 municipalities in Vermont to help ensure people with disabilities have access to polling places, according to a statement from Secretary of State Deb Markowitz.

The Burlington School District received the maximum amount -- $20,000 -- to install automatic doors and add handicap parking spaces... The grants are intended to help towns meet the mandates of the federal Help America Vote act signed into law in 2002... Since the program began, the Secretary of State's Office has awarded 119 grants worth $481,538. For more information on the Help America Vote Act, visit http://vermont-elections.org/elections1/hava.html

Burlington School Board Votes for Edmunds Accessibility

The Burlington school board passed the following motions tonight. This is a great stride forward! More steps to come.

2) Elevator Accessibility

2a) Motion: Ask Bobby Miller to review concepts and budget for Phase I to verify budgetary numbers and identify potential problems as well as have the plan reviewed by Access Board.

2b) Motion: to request prior to any concept reviews, the C Building addition that addresses security, external access and curricular program access be added to the concept drawings.

2c) Motion: to accept the recommendation to finance Phase I A Building elevator project by using $1,090,000 from FY 12 capital project plan, $300,000 IDEA ARRA funds and ask the city or other viable source to support the project with the additional $300,000 needed.

3) Motion: to authorize and direct the chief administrative officer of the city to pledge the credit of the city by issuing negotiable orders, warrants, notes or bonds in an amount not to exceed in the aggregate two million dollars ($2,000,000) in fiscal year 2010 for the purpose of providing working capital and capital improvements, additions and replacements required for the efficient and economical operation of the school department.

Edmunds Accessibility Effort Wins Award

The many local volunteers working to make Edmunds accessible were among those recognized with an award last night! Here's the video from CCTV... start watching just shy of 50% into the piece. A clip from the newspaper's account too...

Champions of diversity in education honored in Burlington
By Molly Walsh
Burlington Free Press
June 4, 2009

When Somali refugee children needed financial assistance to attend summer camp, Nancy Zahniser stepped up to establish a scholarship fund. When Patrick Brown arrived in Burlington 26 years ago, he began a long career of community service designed to reduce racism and increase equal opportunity.

Both received standing ovations and lifetime achievement awards at the first Champions of Diversity and Equity program at Burlington City Hall on Wednesday. More than 100 people attended the awards ceremony designed to honor Vermonters who have worked to affirm social and cultural diversity in Burlington public schools, build bridges across differences in the community and create a culture for leadership and social change...

The awards were sponsored jointly by city government, the school district and the Social Equity Investment Project...

Other champions award recipients included student Nicole Murphy of Burlington High School; Joy Kipp, an art teacher at Hunt Middle School; Michael Wood-Lewis, a Burlington parent who is leading a drive to make Edmunds Middle School handicapped accessible; Denise Dunbar, coordinator of Reading to End Racism of Chittenden County; and Nimo Girreh, a Burlington school district bilingual/bicultural home school liaison...

School board making progress on Edmunds accessibility

Some amazing news out of the Burlington school board this week. The Infrastructure and Technology Committee of the board, as well as the Finance Committee, met on June 2 and tackled a proposal to address the accessibility challenges of Edmunds. (Read Seven Days report.)

The committees will likely put forward a motion at the June 9 full school board meeting with the following points...

1. The Burlington School District (BSD) will commit to making the four-building Edmunds complex (middle and elementary schools) fully accessible and ADA compliant. They will do this as part of a $6-8 million multi-phase plan to invest in these buildings over several years. This is a 50% reduction from the previous cost estimate.

2. BSD will undertake the first phase immediately, to install a five-stop elevator in the middle school and make improvements to at least one bathroom on each floor. The cost estimate for this phase is $1.6 million, with about one-third needed to overhaul the fire alarm system in all four buildings, one third to replace the electrical system in the middle school, and one third for the elevator. BSD has identified $1 million for this work from within its capital improvement budget and $300,000 from federal special education stimulus funding. They still need to raise $300,000 and will approach the City of Burlington for help. The construction would start and end the summer of 2011 and be ready to go for the 2011-12 school year, although they are open to a faster timetable.

Amazing progress! And we're not there yet.