OCEANSIDE — Parents are raising safety concerns after their children returned to Pablo Tac School of the Arts last week to find several active construction sites across the campus amid ongoing renovations.
Parents began to notice conditions at the school in the days before Oceanside Unified School District’s first day back on Aug. 15.
According to a complaint filed on behalf of several parents by Janice Holowka, an educational consultant, there were numerous safety issues on campus on the first day of school.
Some of the issues included heavy construction equipment moving within at least 10-20 feet of students, staff and families without protective barriers to block access, a lack of temporary fencing around active construction, strong sewage fumes from bathroom trailers being installed, loud machinery, power tools left out on sidewalks and open gates.
In addition to the concerns regarding active construction on campus, parents are also worried about traffic going to and from the school.
The complaint states that many students were dropped off at the traffic circle in front of the school without any staff guiding them where to go, there was a lack of street parking, narrow streets in the surrounding residential community made it difficult to navigate, there was a lack of traffic control, and groups of students were waiting along congested roadways with no safety barriers, lane lines or signs.
Parents are also upset after hearing reports from their children about playing on loose, unsafe playground equipment, a lack of access to drinking water on campus, broken ovens affecting lunchtime, a lack of shade on the playground and no play structures for students between first and fifth grades.
Pablo Tac has been under construction for the last two years to modernize the school and is expected to be completed by 2025.
The school was originally San Luis Rey Elementary before 2021 when the district board decided to rename it to better unify the school community when Garrison Elementary students were moved there after the school’s closure due to sinkholes on campus. Modernization efforts soon followed, costing the district approximately $33 million.
The plan was to build a new administration building with a health office and conference room, a new stage with expanded entry and exit points and height, 14 new modular classrooms including space for transitional kindergarten, several outdoor additions including a shaded eating area, gathering space and learning spaces, and unique community access to school fields.
Parents have also created a list of demands and ask that academic instruction be delayed until the following measures are taken:
- No heavy equipment operation, construction and other vehicles, or loud construction to be permitted to operate on campus or pedestrian pathways to campus for a one-hour window surrounding drop-off and pick-up times,
- All operations of heavy equipment, construction delivery vehicles or other vehicles are to be done behind temporary fences only and with either construction personnel or district personnel stationed to monitor fence lines along student walkways,
- Professional traffic control and crossing guards – not including teachers or administrators – in the traffic circle and immediately surrounding streets of Hacienda, Riviera, Las Vegas, Tropicana and Frontier Drives throughout construction on faculty parking lots, the front cul de sac and visitor parking lots,
- Temporary road barriers along the traffic circle to separate moving vehicles and pedestrians, or temporary closure of the circle until construction of the front entrance lawn is complete,
- The ability for parents to opt-out from sending their students to school until all demands are met without penalty to students’ attendance or academic records,
- Safe pedestrian walkways and bike lanes,
- Clear, timely and accurate communication on construction status, completed projects and delays.
“Our primary requests are for transparency, accountability, clear communication, and a reassessment of how our school’s safety and needs are being prioritized,” said parent M. Kalli via email. “As parents, we should not be tasked with solving or managing the district’s mishandling of this situation. Nevertheless, it feels as though we have assumed the roles of site safety managers and media coordinators, striving to ensure our children’s safety and rights are upheld in a public school under the Oceanside Unified School District.”
According to OUSD Communications Director Donald Bendz, the remaining work includes renovating buildings B and C, the multipurpose room and permanent bathrooms, building a new office, adding an additional playground shade structure, and installing new, permanent modular buildings.
The campus has remained open since construction started two years ago. Bendz said construction will continue during school hours, however heavy trucks and equipment are paused during drop-off and pick-up times.
The staff walked the site and ensured all areas had temporary fencing.
Bendz also responded to concerns regarding the school’s traffic issues.
“Due to the school’s location at the end of a cul de sac, drop off and pick up have not changed during the modernization of the school,” Bendz said via email. “Staff will continue to be present during arrival and dismissal times to guide students and families.”
Regarding the loose playground equipment, Bendz said the school discovered that one panel of a play structure had a bolt that was not flush with the surface but has since been fixed.
“All bolts have been inspected and are secure,” he said.
Bendz also noted that shade canopies and lunch tables have been located on the lower playground, bottled drinking water has been provided to both staff and students, and the kitchen’s power was only temporarily out Friday morning but has since been restored. The pilot light was also out but has been relit.
Parent Madison Williams disputed the water bottle claim, stating that her 7-year-old daughter was refused a water bottle to save enough for those who don’t have refillable bottles.
Holowka has been volunteering her time working with parents to reach the district’s administration through both formal complaints and requests for meetings with staff to immediately address the concerns.
“I feel OUSD families are being treated very unfairly because OUSD thinks that they do not have the resources to hire an attorney, to #stoptheharm, due to the large percentages of socioeconomically disadvantaged families at certain schools,” Holowka told The Coast News via email.
While Holowka was pleased to hear about the water bottles, temporary shade canopies and the impending permanent shade structures coming later this year, there are still other concerns left to be addressed.
“I asked for a meeting with Pablo Tac parents to discuss their concerns, to inform them of the timeframe of when the modernization/renovations would be completed, and what actions OUSD will be taking in the interim to ensure that students have access to education in a safe, secure and peaceful learning environment and to discuss why this was not made a priority before the start of school,” Holowka said.
