The sky was a somber gray Friday as large pieces of construction equipment – looking like a T-Rex robots – bit into the old Portola Middle School in El Cerrito.
The 62-year-old school buildings were condemned by the West Contra Costa Unified School District because they sit on a slope deemed too unstable in an earthquake for student safety.
The deconstruction work this past week has been "minor," while the long-awaited "heavy demolition" is scheduled to begin next week, said E. Keith Holtslander, the school district's director of facilities and construction.
Workers have been at the site, located at Moeser Lane and Navellier Street, since spring, removing and containing hazardous materials in the buildings and preparing for the knock-down.
Portola classes are being held in temporary buildings on level ground at the western end of the site until a new Portola Middle School is built at the site of the former Castro Elementary School in El Cerrito.
The sloped portion of the current site will be graded and left empty by the school district for the time being. The temporary buildings on the flat western portion of the site, which are now being used by Portola students, will be used temporarily by Fairmont Elementary School students after the new Portola is built. Fairmont will be rebuilt on its current site.
After the Fairmont students move back to their new school, the City of El Cerrito may use the flat portion of site for soccer fields or other uses, depending on city needs at the time and agreements with the school district.
We thank Patch contributor Betty Buginas for the attached photos and video.
To see past stories about the school, click "Portola Middle School" next to Related Topics below. For alerts to future stories about the school, click the Keep me posted button below.
school buildings? Are these new schools built like throwaway watches? I see that Gompers has been torn down. You will never see anything like it again. The historic people were asleep at the wheel on that one. Beautiful woodwork, high ceilings, cool in summer and warm in winter, wide staircases with bannisters--just a heavenly place to work in. It must have been the best of the best when it was built for the children of Richmond.
Tell does this sound familiar, I have provided a link to a story on the Temecula Patch. Please read the story and watch the video in the story. Add this to all your facebook accounts, get the word out. http://temecula.patch.com/articles/citizen-reader-shares-mining-sounds
There is kind of no way to win, here. Costs are obviously an issue for any public project; and requiring work only on weekends and holidays would mean -- I think -- that the costs will be much greater, the work will be slower to completion, and that there will still be disruption for the neighbors. Because this deconstruction has gone as smoothly as it has, I'm hoping the wrecking-ball phase will also be accomplished with good warning, with precautions for the students, and very quickly.