At the last school board meeting on November 19th we asked the district to pause spending and planning around the demolition of the history building and to authorize an adaptive reuse study. We were not successful.
Please ask the School District to hire a 3rd party preservation expert to assess the costs and possibilities around adaptive reuse.
The district is communicating to teachers, parents and students that adaptive reuse will not accommodate new learning spaces and millions have already been spent on the current plans. They don't actually know this information, as a study has never been performed. The Director of Facilities at SMMUSD said the assessment costs $30-50K. Adaptive reuse is sustainable, saves time, money, and could potentially redirect millions to other PK-12 campuses that need vital upgrades. Please ask the school board to authorize this study. Remind the school board that not only could adaptive reuse save time, taxpayer money, and the environment, but rehabilitation teaches sustainability and learning in historical buildings can enrich a child's education.
“The preservation of [our] irreplaceable heritage is in the public interest so that its vital legacy of cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, economic, and energy benefits will be maintained and enriched for future generations of Americans” (Title 1, Section 1(b)(4) of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended)
Carl Elefante, former president of the American Institute of Architects, said: 'The greenest building is the one that already exists'
Please write the SMMUSD School Board at brd@smmusd.org and cc the Superintendent, bdrati@smmusd.org, samohialumni@gmail.com, cupton@smmusd.org, advocacy@smconservancy.org, fixsmmusd@gmail.com
Anonymous letters can be sent to Attn: Save Samo, Santa Monica Conservancy, P.O. Box 653 Santa Monica, CA 90406-0653
Check out the awesome example of adaptive reuse at the Historic Sears Streamline Moderne conversion in downtown Santa Monica.
There's a board meeting tonight discussing other SMMUSD campus assessments. Maybe there is an alternative to spending $172M of bond funds to destroy historic resources? Perhaps millions could be redirected, resulting in a better outcome for the community?
https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030435&MID=4504