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Bigger classrooms at Weston than for Colony Oak?
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As part of the voter-approved Measure G bond measure, Weston School will be tabbed first for reconstruction.

Work on Colony Oak School is scheduled to take place after Weston is completed sometime in 2015. But some folks believe that both schools won’t be the same after all is said and done.

“I know there’s been talk about bigger classrooms for Weston, but (building at) Colony Oak will be limited,” said Chad Husky at Monday’s Ripon Unified school board meeting.

He serves on the Weston School oversight committee and pointed out that not much can be done with the Colony Oak multi-purpose building and administration building.

The infrastructure at the two school sites also differ. Water and sewage, for example, Colony Oak – located in a rural area of town – is not hooked up to the City of Ripon facilities.

“You can’t build a state-of-the-arts school (Weston) and leave the other as the Little House on the Prairie (Colony Oak),” said Husky. “In comparison, it won’t be apples to apples.”

For now, efforts are on Weston, where about $15.3 million of general obligation bonds have helped pay off the Certificates of Participation ($3.6 million).

That leaves $10.1 million for Weston School’s reconstruction main budget, with another $300,000 going towards a contingency that’s there to cover anything unexpected along the way, according to Program Management Integration Chief Operating Officer Khushroo Gheyara.

He estimated the planning and approval costs for Colony Oak at $1.1 million. Gheyara said that cost for work at Colony Oak is being estimated at $11 million, but that amount includes contingencies and allowances down the road, including inflation and other cost.

Weston could be built on the lease/leaseback as recommended to the board last month.

Trustees gave their OK on a pre-construction agreement involving the district and contractor C.T. Brayton, who would also work with architect Tim Huff on the design under the lease/leaseback plan.

The board is expected to approve final construction and financing plan during the summer months, with plans prepared by Huff expected to take place from August through October.

Actual construction on Weston could begin June 2014 and, from there, could take about a year for completion.