Most of the Live Oak High School Little Theater's construction bids have been approved by the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education. The architectural rendering above shows how the theater will remain on the southwest corner of the campus. The theater puts on a play in the fall and a musical in the spring. Theater classes are also held there.
School board officials approved $5.3 million worth of construction contracts for Live Oak High School Little Theater Tuesday evening.
Talk of renovating the Little Theater began in 1999. Trustees began making detailed plans for spending renovation money in 2006. Some seats in the theater are broken and the furnishings are worn. The amphitheater will fill out a cement slab outside the Little Theater in the campus courtyard creating a sort of indoor and outdoor theater complex.
"I'm glad we can move forward with the new theater," said Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education member Shelle Thomas.
Delays at the state level, especially with the Division of State Architects overseeing and approving plans for the renovations and new amphitheater, dragged the turnaround to get the project underway.
The district has since refinanced the bond as other renovations at the high school have been completed.
"This was a priority in past elections," Thomas said, explaining the refinanced bond.
Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini estimated that the project would take about a year to complete once construction begins, which will be soon after all bids have been assigned.
There are three bids still out on the project. Those three, for theatrical equipment, ceiling systems and flooring systems, will be brought before the board for approval at the April 22 meeting.
The 10 bids approved at the meeting amounted to almost $600,000 less than district staff estimates.
Thomas wasn't surprised that the bids were lower than anticipated.
"If you look at the decrease in property values and property taxes, it would seem it's another symptom of how the economy is suffering," she said.
Still, District Superintendent Alan Nishino reminded board members that there may be additional costs associated with the theater modernization.
"This is a modernization, so we don't know what other costs might come up," he said. "They're going to knock down that wall, and we don't know what's behind that wall."
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett is the education and city reporter for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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