Many changes for San Bruno schools

“It is a beautiful space and an amazing location and we would like to take advantage of it,” Duffy said.

San Bruno city officials previously expressed interest in acquiring or leasing the El Crystal site in early 2021 when a $13.5 million deal with Stratford School fell apart after the private school determined it could not afford renovation costs.

Duffy also announced Rollingwood Elementary School will be closing in June of 2023 due to declining enrollment. However, the district wants to avoid neglecting the property and Duffy said one potential option is to rent spaces in the school to a preschool, which he said will create additional revenue. Duffy said that the schools’ closing has nothing to do with the district’s financial status and it has plenty of money in its reserve accounts.

Moreover, the Engvall Middle School site, occupied by a 21-acre golf center, sold in 2020 for $79.5 million to Pulte homes, which plans to develop the area into 118 single-family homes.

Duffy said the district will use the money from both the sale of property and the $79 million from the facilities bond, Measure X, to fund updates to Allen Elementary and Parkside Intermediate schools and a few sports fields.

Allen Elementary’s renovations, which Duffy said are already 80% completed, broke ground in June of 2022 and finished the first phase this past August. The main building, the multipurpose room and the kindergarten wing were all rebuilt. The second phase, which is underway, is reconstructing the sports fields, play areas, landscaping and a library, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2023.

Additionally, Parkside Intermediate School’s science and arts building will be rebuilt. The project also plans to update the main office, library and performing arts classrooms. It will update the multipurpose room with a new stage, sound and lighting systems.

“So we have a science and art building at Parkside that is aging and we are going to take that building down, redesign it and rebuild that space that will be dedicated to art, science and multiple classrooms,” Duffy said.

The district also plans to renovate the gym and locker rooms. It will redesign and construct a new drop-off and pick-up area for students because the current space is too tight, Duffy said. And he expressed excitement about an updated kitchen.

“We are already moving to a scratch kitchen. I was there the other day and it was really nice to see us moving away from just heating and serving to cooking from scratch,” Duffy said.

Duffy said the design process will flow into the rest of 2023 and construction is anticipated to begin in 2024 through 2025. The district also plans on updating many of the playing fields across the district from grass fields to turf.

The condition of the fields at Portola, Rollingwood and John Muir elementary schools are poor and need updating to be usable for the community, Duffy said.