GUADALUPE, Calif. -- Guadalupe school officials toured the district's still-under-construction junior high school and Early Learning Center (ELC) on Tuesday morning, getting a chance to see firsthand the soon-to-be-completed project.
Officials taking part in the 45-minute walk-through included members of the Guadalupe Union School District (GUSD) Board of Trustees, along with Superintendent Dr. Emilio Handall and Guadalupe Mayor Ariston Julian.
"We saw tremendous progress on all the different buildings, from the classrooms to the gymnasium to the Early Learning Center," said Handall. "All of the necessary utility lines are being placed in and installing the field as well, so got a lot of things going on simultaneously."
The effort to build a third school campus to join Mary Buren Elementary School and Kermit McKenzie Intermediate School has been a goal GUSD has been working on for 30 years.
In January 2024, after gathering the necessary funding, groundbreaking took place on a 17.6 acre site located in the Pasadera housing community.
"I think it's very exciting for us as board members, as a school district because our community has waited for this for so long," said Board President José Pereyra. "It's a big investment. We've needed it for a long time. Both of our campuses are pretty impacted now with students, so having this third and fourth campus will allow us to expand and provide better services for our students."
In addition to the junior high school, the project also includes what will be an entirely separate campus for the new ELC, which will be located adjacent to the junior high school, on the south end of the property.
"The Early Learning Center was actually a bonus that we threw in using state funds and federal funds," said Handall. "We believe this is going to be a tremendous opportunity here in town to bring in all of our three and four-year-old students to give them a head start before they get to kindergarten. That project is very personal to me because I felt that there were so many students coming to us that weren't ready for kindergarten. Now they're going to have at least two years to come into kindergarten fully prepared to meet all of the necessary standards that need to be met. We are super excited about that."
During the tour, the school leaders went into several rooms and buildings throughout the campus, including the highly-anticipated 11,000 square feet multipurpose building/gymnasium, as well as classrooms and the administration building.
"I went to school in the old City Hall that was built in 1929 and to see that as a comparison to what we have going here, it's just a one thousand percent difference," said Julian. "What a joy this is going to be for the families who live here and for the kids that come here. They're going to see this as the community cares about them and the school district cares about them. It's a big investment in kids. As they go to Righetti (High School) and as they go to Pioneer (Valley High School), they're going to be well prepared after they get through our school system here."
The tour came just a few days after the construction site was damaged by vandalism inside the junior high school gymnasium and administration building.
According to the builders, the damage was significant, but not enough to derail the opening of the junior high, which is slated to be ready for first day of school in early August.
"It was a little bit of a setback, but in talking to the construction folks, we're still on track," said Handall. "If anyone knows about who who inflicted the vandalism, we'd love to know. If you let the Guadalupe Police Department know, we'd love to find out who actually vandalized our campus. We're moving forward and we know this is just a bump in the road."
Once the new school is built, GUSD will adjust the configuration of its three campuses.
The new junior high will be for students in the 7th and 8th grades, while Kermit McKenzie Intermediate School will be for students in 4th through 6th grades.
Mary Buren Elementary School will be for students in kindergarten through third grades, and the new ELC will be for preschool and transitional kindergarten students.
The new junior high will be named Guadalupe Junior High School and will accommodate just under 500 students and include 16 classrooms, plus the multipurpose building/gymnasium and library.
The ELC will support about 200 students on its site adjacent to the junior high school.
Handall said the cost to build both sites will be about $50 million, with funding provided through a variety of sources, including the passage of two school bonds over the past several years.
Guadalupe school officials tour soon-to-be-completed new junior high campus News Channel 3-12.
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