Over summer, school to increase classrooms and fix plumbing; student parking lot will still be unavailable
NOT YET: The student parking lot on San Vicente (left) will still be occupied by Alliance Residential complex next year. Construction site is at right.
June 14, 2016
As with any new construction, there are still a few problems unresolved in Shalhevet’s new building as its first year of classes ends this week.
A pipe problem between the faculty bathroom and the second floor has been causing sewage to back up into the bio lab, more classrooms are needed and there’s still no student parking lot.
But Executive Director Robyn Lewis says all but the parking problem will be resolved over the summer. Biology Teacher Dr. Melissa Noel described in an email what the plumbing issue was, based on what one of the plumbers told her.
“[He said] the three faculty bathrooms’ toilets, pipes and the safety shower drain in the Biology lab are connected,” Dr. Noel said in an e-mail response to Boiling Point questions. “Therefore, when the toilet gets clogged, the sewage backs into the drain in the lab and spills on the floor.”
Freshman Joseph Zaghi described what happened when sewage came up in the lab during his Period H Biology class twice this semester.
“We were watching a movie and then people started to smell it,” said Joseph. “We turned on the lights and there it was all brown.”
Executive Director Mrs. Robyn Lewis said workers would be working on the plumbing issue over the summer.
She said one or possibly two new classrooms will be added for next year. There will be a new classroom for science and robotics where the Genius Bar was located this year, and another may be created by adding a moveable wall to divide the large Beit Midrash.
“During the summer we will be working on Beit Midrash A and the Robotics lab,” said Mrs. Lewis. “The plans for Beit Midrash A is to put in shelves for books and a temporary divider that can be put up, but nothing is certain yet. Shalhevet will also be renovating the basement for IKAR.”
One problem that will take longer to solve is student parking, The school lent its old student lot to Alliance Residential as part of the deal for the sale that funded construction of the new building. Alliance is building 184 apartments on the site of the old building.
Though apartment frames are now becoming visible out the school windows, there’s still another year of construction to go.
“We are due to receive use of the student parking lot back after Alliance completes construction, which is anticipated to be approximately one more year,” Mrs. Lewis wrote.
The school had lent the student parking lot to Alliance for their construction as part of the deal for the sale that funded the school’s construction. It will be one more year until the students get their parking lot back from Alliance.
