Lazear Charter Academy - Oakland Unified School District

operable condition at all times. Lazear shall conduct fire drills as required under Education Code
Section 32001 and in conjunction with the District (if at District facilities). Lazear shall occupy facilities
that comply with the Asbestos requirement as cited in the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act
(AHERA), 40CFR part 763. AHERA requires that any building leased or acquired that is to be used as
a school or administrative building shall maintain an asbestos management plan .
Depending on the percentage of socio-economically disadvantaged students, Lazear may apply for
facilities financing assistance under the state's Charter School Facilities Grant Program , and/or the
state-administered Charter School Facilities Incentive Grants. These programs are designed to
provide facilities assistance to charter schools serving high percentages of free and reduced-priced
lunch students by paying a portion of a charter school's monthly facilities costs.
The Petitioners have established a facilities team to evaluate and select a suitable location for Lazear.
The members of the facilities team have various levels of expertise in commercial real estate
transactions, lease negotiations, and building code. The goal of facilities team is to secure a facility
that is within-budget and will be ready for classes to begin in the fall of 2013. The team includes
EFC's CEO (Hae-Sin Thomas), COO (Fabiola Harvey), Controller (Richard McNeel), and Bill Nevin,
lnSite Charter Schools Services (Vice-President).
Existing school facilities will be evaluated first because of the obvious advantages of site design and
use.
The facilities team will also work with a qualified commercial real estate agent to identify commercial
office space as well as light industrial/warehouse space. Although office space can be significantly
more expensive to lease than warehouse space, offices may be more easily converted to classrooms
and drop-off/pick-up/parking is generally more suitable for school use. Light industrial and warehouse
space is less expensive to lease but will require significantly more build-outs and thus a greater
upfront expense. Outdoor activity space may prove challenging in both commercial options and
special permitting may be required to allow for school use. Purchase of these types of facilities will
also be considered. Lazear will take into account both its short and long term goals when assessing
facilities. Existing community facilities will also be evaluated for suitability. Options are likely to be
affordable and in some cases, these facilities have outdoor activity space. However, daily or weekly
classroom set-up may be required because rooms are multi-use. Church facilities will need to be
willing to allow signage, remove religious symbols and messages, and refrain from religious activities
during the school day. Also, these types of shared use facilities tend to be more temporary in nature,
so it is likely to be used as a short term alternative if permanent space cannot be acquired in a timely
manner.
Each facility will be evaluated on the following general criteria:
•:• Local zoning code and building code jurisdictional requirements
•:• Ability to accommodate estimated number of first year students
•:• Conducive to a learning environment
•:• Safe and free of excessive noise
•:• Dollar value of remodeling required
•:• Accessibility for drop-off/pick-up and parking
•:• Clean and in good repair
•:• Ability to expand to the estimated maximum capacity of the school
•:• Compliance with public school laws and regulations
If Lazear fails to submit a certificate of occupancy or other valid documentation to the District verifying
that the intended facility in which the school will operate complies with Education Code Section
47610, not less than 30 days before the school is scheduled to begin operation pursuant to the first
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