Schools look to improve sites

“In order to have learning environments that keep students inspired, you have to invest in updating your campuses on an ongoing basis,” Superintendent Diego Ochoa said. 

The draft document includes improvements to be made within the next five years, but the district considers improvements in a 10-year scope, Amy Ruffo, director of Facilities and Construction, said. The document also will allow the district to be eligible for state funding up to $55 million, she said. 

Bond measures were passed by voters in 2010, 2013 and 2020, most recently Measure T for $409 million. While the funds have addressed many facility improvement projects, “resource limitations have not allowed the district to address the substantial, ongoing facilities needs comprehensively,” according to the master plan. 

Investing in workforce housing, providing between 80 and 100 units, is to be considered in the facilities master plan. Considered a priority, the district is estimating nearly $100 million needed to be dedicated toward developing the housing facility at a district-owned site. 

Needs across campus include replacing leaky roofs and old windows, updating classrooms and labs for science, technology, engineering and math, and restoring shop classes and career technical education with modern equipment. Nearly every campus also needs updated fire alarm systems, Ruffo said, and upgrades to general safety, security and accessibility facilities. 

Beyond districtwide improvements needed, feedback collected at each school as site assessments has made the facilities master plan “extremely thorough,” Ochoa said.  

“All of our school district sites have such unique, such vocal and such informed parents, staff and community groups,” Ochoa said. 

A focus school will be Bayside Academy, which was described by Ochoa and multiple trustees as needing a lot of attention. The school has an identified total needs costing more than $65.5 million, and nearly $30 million as immediate priorities. 

A significant portion of that includes developing a new building for science, music and library uses and modernizing existing science classrooms, according to the draft plan, 

“You can do a lot at one campus … these priorities lists are really important because it gives us a roadmap of where we should start,” Ochoa said. “It needs a lot of work, it’s really far behind so many other schools in the district.” 

The needs identified at Borel Middle School are also costly. Prioritized projects are estimated to cost approximately $49 million, as the school is in need of new classrooms, a library and administration office. 

Lead Elementary School, which is slated to be named Cottage Grove Elementary School in the new school year, is also estimated to need about $40 million worth of upgrades to its campus, most of which is maintenance costs and upgrades to its existing facilities. The site is in need of a new library, as well. 

A major upgrade at Audubon Elementary School and San Mateo Park Elementary School is needed to address the slew of windowless classrooms at each campus. This project alone is estimated to cost approximately $21.7 million at Audubon and $28.5 million at San Mateo Park. 

At Abbott Middle School, a new career technical education facility with shop space and classrooms is estimated to cost $6.6 million. 

The facilities master plan will return to the Board of Trustees for final approval in January. The document will inform outreach the district will employ as it tries to garner voter support for a $498 million bond measure in 2026.