School District to Show Off Old Mill, Tam Valley Overhauls Tonight

They may have taken a bit longer than expected to make it to the runway, but the new-look Old Mill and Tam Valley elementary schools are ready to strut their stuff.

The Mill Valley School District is hosting open houses at Old Mill and Tam Valley schools from 6 to 7:30 p.m. tonight to give the community a chance to see the results of the nearly $7.5 million renovations that occurred on each campus during the summer, fall and winter of 2011.

The open houses are part of the district’s ongoing effort to show voters the results of the 2009 voter-approved Measure C bond measure, which is paying for $59.8 million in modernization work throughout the district.

Both projects kicked off when the 2010-2011 school year concluded in June 2011 with plans to wrap up most of the work by the time the 2011-2012 school year began last September. Both schools received new roofs and windows, as well as new exterior painting, fire alarm systems, skylights and flooring. A new staff parking lot was built at Tam Valley, while the lot at Old Mill was upgraded for disabled access.

The projects took longer than planned because of unanticipated delays in the form of dry rot at Old Mill and late requests from neighbors at Tam Valley, according to Tim Ryan, the district's director of maintenance and operations.

Workers had to replace a corner of a four-classroom building in the lower wing by the blacktop because of dry rot at Old Mill, expanding the scope beyond just replacing the windows. At Tam Valley, neighbors expressed concerns about drainage issues in the new parking lot once construction began, and district officials heeded the requests despite their late submission, Ryan said.

“We had super aggressive construction goals over the summer and there were some unforeseen delays,” school board president Robin Moses said. “We’re looking forward to showing off our beautiful new schools.”

The 411: The open houses are from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night. Old Mill School is at 352 Throckmorton Ave. and Tam Valley School is at 350 Bell Lane.