City and school district officials gathered at the corner of
West Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard to celebrate breaking
ground on the new high school in front of about 100 people.
Sara Suddes – Staff Writer
City and school district officials gathered at the corner of West Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard to celebrate breaking ground on the new high school in front of about 100 people.
“We’ve been talking about this school for five years now,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said Thursday afternoon as he mingled among the crowd before the ceremony. “It’s exciting to be here after all these years. It’s long overdue.”
Scheduled to open August 2009, the groundbreaking Christopher High School was welcomed with pomp and circumstance.
“I think this is one of the most exciting events in the district’s history,” Superintendent Deborah Flores said. “It’s a rare occasion that a school district is able to build a new high school. Our community is growing because Gilroy is such a great place to live. This is a major historical event.”
Flores kicked off the ceremony from a podium in the middle of the empty 40-acre field that will be CHS in two years. She recognized the individuals who made the erection of the high school possible.
Don Christopher – for whom the school is named – expressed his pleasure for helping the school district. The audience smiled when he shared that he was “more excited today than I’ve ever been with a beautiful crop of garlic.”
School Board President Tom Bundros spoke briefly about the future of the students who will pass through the doors of CHS and said the school is “a culmination of years of planning and the effort of hundreds of people.”
The school is being built to accommodate the growing community of Gilroy and will eventually hold 1,800 students. Flores said that 900 freshmen and sophomore students will start in 2009 but Flores and district staff still need to make that specific recommendation to the board.
CHS is considered a “green” school. Its energy-conscious design makes use of natural light, ventilation, and solar arrays to provide a clean and eco-friendly learning environment. Durable and low-maintenance materials such as natural stone will be used to enhance the integrity of the structure, said Paul Bunton, the school’s architect.
“The materials being used will last much longer without as much maintenance,” Flores said. “I expect CHS to outlast the projected 50 year mark.”
In the design of the new school, Bunton incorporated many of the classic elements found in Gilroy’s first high school, built in 1912.
“Christopher High is a reinterpretation of the original,” Bunton said.
The project’s total cost is estimated at $110 million, according to district documents.
Funding for the project comes from a combination of developer fees, state funds, $6.6 million in joint use funds from the city of Gilroy, land donated by Don Christopher and revenue from the sale of district property, said Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent of administrative services.
