California

School heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems have moved from a behind-the-scenes role to a front-of-house focus now that students have returned to in-person learning. Accordingly, many school leaders and maintenance personnel have begun to wonder whether their HVAC systems are up to the challenge of keeping spaces clean, comfortable, and safe.

Inspections performed at the Education for Change Achieve Academy site (former Hawthorne Elementary School constructed in the 1930’s and expanded in the 1940’s) identified their system as antiquated. Radiators provided heat to all the classrooms and offices throughout the facility. Many of the radiators did not function well and the entire system showed severe signs of wear. The system did not provide for any air conditioning or current day air filtration and, in order to comply with Covid-19 air filtration requirements, the school introduced standalone portable air filtration units into each classroom and office space.

Without a doubt, having a new or significantly improved HVAC system carries plenty of advantages for schools and their occupants. Foremost is peace of mind in regard to the health and well-being of their students, teachers, administrators, staff, and visitors, as a good ventilation system is considered the first line of defense against airborne illness.

Equipment like air purifiers and filtration solutions that use HEPA filters don’t just scrub the air of viruses, germs, and allergens though. They can also remove fine pollutants like smoke and dust particles known to cause physical irritation in some children and adults.

Installing a new HVAC system into an 80+ year old facility over a summer break poses many challenges. As a result, some work was performed several months in advance of the main construction, including remediation of asbestos and lead in ceiling tiles and paint.

A construction of this magnitude required packing up most of the classrooms and administrative areas for the summer. Only a limited area in the classrooms was available for storage. Demolition of existing radiator units, some casework and sinks to accommodate the new equipment all required clearance area to meet OSHA requirements.

With an extensive amount of equipment located on the roof, a roof rehabilitation was also performed. The aged roof was able to be refurbished with an overlay that provided the school with a 30-year warrantied roof.

Staff and students have commented that they hadn’t realized how large of an impact that this HVAC project would have on their school. They are looking forward to the next phase.

PCSD is thrilled to announce that Lighthouse Community Public Schools was able to purchase the property for Lodestar from us a year earlier than anticipated due to support from the Rogers Family Foundation and the securing of a bond. Lighthouse now fully owns their “forever home”.

With Lighthouse’s repayment of the $6.38 million in philanthropic funding for the two facility projects for Lodestar, PCSD has now been able to recycle our fifth project from our Bay Area Revolving Charter School Facilities Fund.

PCSD works closely with our charter school partners to find the most affordable long-term facility solution. Sometimes this means that we purchase the property, develop the facility and lease the building to our charter school partner for several years until they are in a position to secure financing to purchase it from us.

PCSD began working with Lighthouse Lodestar in 2017 to develop a former seminary site in Oakland, CA. This site, located in the Sobrante Park neighborhood, serves as the permanent home for Lighthouse’s second school, Lodestar. Phase I of this project was completed in 2018 with 575 student seats for grades K-8.

For Phase II, PCSD expanded the campus to add a high school facility with 300 student seats. The facility was completed in fall 2020 and, due to the pandemic, finally open to students in fall 2021. The school now has a total capacity of 850 student seats, encompassing grades TK-12.

PCSD is presenting at the CSDC 2022 Charter Schools Leadership Update Conference in Sacramento alongside our partners HJ Sims and LISC.

Education Session:

School Daze: Navigating the Facility Financing Maze
November 15, 2022 | 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm

For many charter school leaders and their boards throughout the country, navigating the need for a high-quality facility remains one of their most significant organizational challenges. Add the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and plotting a course through current and future facility needs has become an even more challenging exercise. Is your school planning a facilities expansion or renovation? Join us to learn the key to planning a successful facilities project and understand the potential cost of that project. During our session, a panel of charter school experts will introduce school leaders to the critical elements of project planning and creditworthiness. We will begin our session with a brief icebreaker to gauge who is in the room and their level of facility financing knowledge. Our four experts will then introduce the critical elements of facility project planning and credit worthiness. Following the panel, attendees will be guided through an exercise that estimates key facility project costs. To conclude the session, panelists will work with attendees in small groups to answer their facility financing questions. Attendees will walk away from our session with the tools to solve their facilities challenges.

Presenters:

• Kahlmus Eatman, Chief Operating Officer, Pacific Charter School Development
• Kaiti Wang, Vice President, HJ Sims
• Crystal Langdon, Director of Lending, Local Initiatives Support Corporation
• Kelly Theofanis, Loan Officer, Charter School Financing, Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Congratulations to Fenton Academies in Sun Valley on completing their new Annex building and elevator project!

The Sun Valley site was originally developed into a facility for two Fenton elementary schools in 2015. This project provides Fenton Academies with an additional 20,000 sf of educational space to house their middle school students, and a new three-story elevator to provide ADA access to the existing parking garage.

You can read more about the project here.

Congratulations to Yu Ming Charter School on opening their Carolyn campus in San Leandro!

Yu Ming will offer their K-3 Mandarin Immersion program at this campus. Formerly occupied by Key Academy, the campus is reusing the existing portable units at the site and is excited to serve more families at this location.

PCSD was happy to partner with them on their continued use application with the Alameda County Planning Department in order to secure the use of this site. Yu Ming started this process with the county late 2021 and received approval in January 2022. Then, they solidified the location approvals with Alameda County Office of Education in order to start operating there for the 22-23 school year.

Yu Ming is a non-profit, tuition-free K-8 public charter school and was founded in 2011 by a group of diverse families. Yu Ming’s mission is to nurture an inclusive and diverse community to become empowered, engaged, and outstanding global citizens. Yu Ming is a 2019 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, a 2020 California Distinguished School and the first Mandarin immersion public charter school in the state.

I “sat down” with Cecilia Melgares, Managing Director of Operations for Equitas Academy, a charter management organization based in Los Angeles and partner of PCSD since 2010. Cecilia has been with Equitas for almost seven years.

Can you tell me about Equitas? What makes Equitas unique and what inspires you about working there?

What inspires me: The commitment that we have to our scholars and our families to go above and beyond. The emphasis on building character. In education we often focus on the academics, but all the other pieces are just as important in order to create generational change.

What is unique about us and inspires me on a day-to-day basis: The commitment as a staff that we all have to meet scholars and families where they are at. I grew up in LA and went to LAUSD schools. I was an English language learner from a single-family home. Education changed my life! That opportunity is so important. With that perspective I know what it is that our scholars need to be successful.

I understand that Equitas was instrumental in supporting the community surrounding one of your schools. How did you get started and how were you able to sustain the program? Are you still supporting the community in this way and/or has it evolved?

During the pandemic, we felt it was important to meet the basic needs of our families. As soon as we closed down, we were able to serve 200,000 meals by the end of the 2019-2020 school year. In addition, we delivered technology, computers, and internet access. Education is the heart of our mission but students can’t learn if their most basic needs aren’t met.

Although most of the staff were working remotely, the operations team was working on site. We provided breakfast and lunch to the community, including some of our families, at Equitas Flagship (EQ), the headquarters and our flagship school at Pico. All seven of our schools are within 2 miles of each other so the flagship school was easily accessible for all of our families. We were surprised by the number of meals we were serving and had to increase the numbers to meet the needs of the community. We stopped the program in June 2021 when the funding stopped and free breakfast and lunch were offered to all students starting in the 2021-2022 school year.

The response from the community was enormous. We had people who were unhoused who came to pick up food. We had grandparents pick up food. It provided a sense of community for everyone that we were working with. And it showed the community that we were going to be there for our families and community at large.

This year, we have hosted vaccination sites for all our schools over the weekend. It’s open to anyone in the community. We are really mindful of how we bring resources to the community at large.

I would love to hear about your experience working with PCSD. What has been your involvement in working with PCSD? What has surprised you the most?

I worked with PCSD first at Equitas #2 then in 2018, on Equitas #3. We got our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy on Saturday of Labor Day weekend and school started on Tuesday. We had 3 days to get ready. We are now working with PCSD on [Equitas] #5 and #6.

We love working with Joe and previously with Mishelle. They have been an integral part of our project.

Anything else you would like to add?

We are grateful for the partnership [with PCSD] and for the work!! Joe goes above and beyond and always imagines how this is going to impact the scholars and the end work!