New buildings, fresh paint, better traffic flow. Modesto City Schools shows off upgrades
A new cafeteria for the oldest school. New classrooms and equipment for high school students exploring health careers. Safer student drop-off areas. Those are among the construction projects Modesto City Schools showed off Monday at eight elementary, middle and high schools.
The renovations are completed or will be soon after the school year begins next week. They are funded through the district’s annual budget or bond measures D and E, which voters from the Modesto City Elementary School District passed in 2018 with more than 70% approval. The bonds will generate $131 million to upgrade elementary and middle schools over several years.
The district marks its 150th anniversary this year. Many schools are over 50 years old, according to information about bond measures D and E posted to the district’s website.
The Modesto Bee joined a tour for school board members, a citizens’ oversight group, union representatives and a superintendent’s advisory committee to update the community on what taxpayer and district dollars will provide.
Here’s a list of highlighted facility renovations projects:
Bret Harte Elementary
Cost: $5.4 million
Funding source: Insurance, bonds D and E
The district is using insurance money to rebuild a wing destroyed in a 2017 fire, said Tim Zearley, the district’s associate superintendent of business services and chief business official.
Dollars from bonds provided enhancements to what existed before the blaze. The building won’t be completed when school starts because of supply chain shortages, Zearley said. It will include new classrooms, a computer lab, a library and a professional development center.
Wilson Elementary
Cost: $5.6 million
Funding source: Bonds D and E
Modesto City’s oldest school site is the first elementary school to house a new cafeteria that can fit all of the school’s roughly 215 students.
The district plans to update all elementary school cafeterias to accommodate for increasing enrollment, Chief Communications Officer Krista Noonan said. Wilson Elementary’s cafeteria will serve as a prototype.
The building has a stage with spotlights that can be used for schoolwide assemblies. It has a serving kitchen and restrooms for students and staff.
The cafeteria will be completed around the first week of October. In the meantime, students will use the existing cafeteria, which is in a portable building.
Students may also choose to eat outside this year. The district bought yoga mats during the previous school year so elementary school students didn’t have to sit on the hot concrete, Noonan said.
La Loma Junior High
Cost: $5.1 million
Funding source: Bonds D and E
This improvement project is designed to make pickups and drop-offs go more smoothly. When completed, families will see a visitor parking lot with 23 spaces, a queue for parents to pick up and drop off their children, a bus queue and a staff lot with 78 parking spaces.
The bus line will serve as the parent pickup/drop-off line until the project is completed toward the end of August.
Davis High School
Cost: $3.4 million
Funding source: District
Davis High School’s Health Careers Academy now has its own classrooms, complete with new equipment. The classrooms and labs house pretend patients in wheelchairs and hospital beds that students will use for practice in the hands-on program.
The high school was also repainted.
Alberta Martone Elementary
Cost: $890,000
Funding source: District
Martone Elementary will soon have a new bus drop-off area. This will create a separate space from the two-lane parent pickup and drop-off, which is safer for students, Zearley said.
Martone will also have an expanded front parking lot and accessibility upgrades for people with disabilities.
Lakewood Elementary
Cost: $829,000
Funding source: Bonds D and E
The front of Lakewood Elementary is being reconfigured to create a single point of entry. Everyone coming in and out of the school will enter through a new front office.
The district has used bond money over the past three years to create a single point of entry at all school sites for security reasons, said Roger Orth, senior director of maintenance, construction and operations. Most K-8 sites have one, he said.
The project will finish about six weeks after school starts.
The district is also upgrading the site’s accessibility for people with disabilities.
Downey High School
Cost: $250,000
Funding source: Nutrition services department (separate from the district’s general fund)
Downey High School students will pick up their food from a remodeled kitchen serving area.
El Vista Elementary
Cost: $234,000
Funding source: District
El Vista Elementary is getting new paint and dry rot repair. This is part of the district’s plan to repaint school buildings every 10 years, Zearley said.
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
