T he I-Hub is facing delays preventing the building from opening until the 2019-2020 school year, contrary to the original plan of moving in during February break. Despite finishing construction on the overall building, the flooring did not meet school and district standards and is being redone.

Assistant Principal Denae Nurnberg is involved with the development of the new building and works with the district on building plans. Nurnberg explained the reasons for building the I-Hub.

“As our district, in general, has aged, facilities in their old configurations and our new needs have not always married nicely together,” Nurnberg said. “In terms of the F building being an appropriate instructional space, it wasn’t meeting the needs of Homestead … the F building was sitting on a pretty substantial piece of land that was then looked at [to see] if we could expand and make more classroom space.”

The I-Hub is completely finished, Nurnberg said, however, when the contractors laid the polished concrete flooring, the wrong grout filling was used and the staining job left blotches on the floor. The standards of the district was not met, Nurnberg said, especially when the money was received from taxpayers due to Measure K.

“It’s solely aesthetic,” Nurnberg said. “There are spaces where it could potentially lead to safety issues. Over time, inherently the polished concrete floor and the grout lines will begin to erode and they’ll have to keep getting sealed … they could become more problematic in future for maintenance.”

Deputy Superintendent Graham Clark is in charge of the bond program in the district, as well as administrative services. Measure K, a $295 million construction bond, was issued by the district and each homeowner contributed through property tax bills, Clark said. The correction in flooring does not affect the amount of money put into the project by homeowners or the district; the $295 million will remain the same amount, regardless of additional costs, the Deputy Superintendent said.

The I-Hub will open in the 2019-20 school year and will segway into the demolition of the D building to replace the A building as the main office.

“We’re going to be modernizing buildings A,B,C and L at Homestead,” Mike Shannon, the project manager for the I-Hub, said. “So we’re going to … bring up all the older classrooms to mirror what’s going on at the Innovation Hub (I-Hub) to try and bring them up and make them as modern.”