So where exactly is a good chunk of that $158 million Measure G school bond actually going?
To overhaul five of the district’s oldest elementary schools – in some cases drastically changing the layouts that have been in place for decades.
On Tuesday the Manteca Unified School District Board of Education heard a presentation from the district’s facilities manager about the five upcoming construction projects that will overhaul portions of Lincoln, Golden West, Shasta, Sequoia and Lathrop elementary schools.
The combined cost of all of the overhauls will cost more than $50 million – one-third of the amount of money that voters approved for making overdue repairs to some of the oldest schools in the district.
And they’ll be getting a whole lot more than just fire systems and new carpet.
Each of the layouts varies depending on the site, but the most costly – Lathrop Elementary at $14.6 million – will include new buildings, a reconfigured parking lot that will address a longstanding issue at the site and new upgrades to classrooms and infrastructure intended to modernize the aging campus.
Golden West, which is scheduled to come in at $12.7 million, will be anchored by a new building constructed at the edge of the parking lot that will house the administration offices and create a single point of entry for parents and visitors during school hours – doing away with the offset entrance that isn’t in-line with the modern safety measures that the district has favored in recent years.
Two of the schools will see entirely new entrances.
The entrance to the new combination cafeteria and administration building on the Lincoln Elementary campus – with a budget of $11.97 million – will actually face Powers Avenue instead of the busy Yosemite Avenue that has served as the entrance for the district’s oldest operational elementary school since it was first opened.
Over at Sequoia Elementary, the entrance that currently sits on Martha Street will be abandoned for a new entrance on Wawona Avenue that will provide the same safety and security and singular oversight that all of the new complex buildings are being designed with.
Shasta Elementary School – the cheapest of all of the scheduled overhauls at only $8.37 million – will see the administrative offices moved to the front of the school and it will be outfitted with a new fire alarm system and a redesigned parking lot.
Several of the sites will have dilapidated portables removed.
A preliminary construction schedule has work beginning at Lincoln and Lathrop Elementary schools first since both have plans that have been approved by the Department of the State Architect. Others are up for recommendation this month, and the tentative completion of all of the overhauled sites is scheduled for December of next year.
Other elementary schools needing upgrades will be addressed after what is being preliminarily referred to as “The First Five.”