Mapping out future education
By Raiza Canelon/Staff Writer/rcanelon@syvnews.com
Despite operating budgets so tight that schools in the Santa Ynez Valley and across the state are laying off teachers, Solvang Elementary School is about to begin building six new classrooms, a multipurpose room and a rest room.
Business Manager Meg Perry said the money for construction comes from the $5.6 million Measure A bond approved by district voters in 2006, and that money can be used only for facilities and maintenance, not for salaries or otherwise balancing the annual operating budget.
The construction project has been awarded to Specialty Construction of San Luis Obispo for $3.3 million. The rest of the bond money will go toward rehabilitation and modernization projects, including technology enhancements.
Work on the buildings should start within the next two weeks and continue until the summer of 2010, Superintendent Tom Allcock said.
“It will be nice to have the multipurpose room, because we can use that as a cafeteria for the students when the weather is bad,” he said. Students now eat outdoors at covered picnic tables.
A map provided by the project’s architects, Westberg and White Inc. of Santa Maria, shows the new classrooms and attached rest room at the south edge of the lower campus along Elm Avenue with a new play area and play equipment next to it.
The multipurpose room would be attached to the east side of the gymnasium, toward the center of the campus and behind the administration building that faces Atterdag Road.
Originally the school board was scheduled to award the construction contract in early May, but a clerical error in the bidding documents delayed the decision while bids were sent out again to clarify the problem, according to Allcock.
Specialty Construction was then awarded the contract at the June 2 special meeting.
July 3, 2009
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