Group of locals overseeing new school have staged first meeting
of the year
Gilroy – The architects have been selected. The land purchase is close to completion. And a volunteer committee charged with overseeing the entire project has staged its first meeting.
Inch by inch Christopher High School, Gilroy’s highly anticipated second high school, is becoming a reality. The new high school is scheduled to open fall of 2009.
“The key here is we’re already impacted at Gilroy High School,” said Gilroy Unified School District Trustee Jim Rogers, pointing out that it’s enrollment of 2,500-plus is too much.
Rogers, who also is serving on the Christopher High School Steering Committee, said the three key things to tackle while planning for the new high school are access to the site, attendance boundaries and the transition for new students.
Because the new high school will be located on a 40-acre plot of land near the busy intersection of Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard he thinks the main access will have to be at the corner of Day and Tapestry roads.
A new high school often splits the community in half making the boundary carving quite a contentious issue, Rogers said.
In December, the GUSD board approved the hiring of Fremont-based architecture firm Bunton Clifford and Associates, Inc. Because space is tight, the district plans to build a two-story high school. Once the architects were chosen, District Superintendent Edwin Diaz solicited community members and district officials to serve on the steering committee.
More than 20 parents, community members, district and city officials and representatives from both the Hispanic and Gilroy chamber of commerces, are serving on the committee.
The board has only met once. They will meet again in March, probably for a total of four times this school year, according to Diaz.
Initial estimates for the new high school were set at $39 million but the district recently amended that number to $47 million, attributing the extra $8 million to rising land and material costs. Phase one of the facility is set to house 900 students, and is scheduled to be open for business by the 2009 school year.
Measure I, the $69 million bond approved by voters in 2002, will cover the cost of the initial construction which will include classrooms, athletic fields, a practice football field and cafeteria.
The high school will eventually cap out at 1,800. Football games will be played at Gilroy High School.
The new high school’s namesake local garlic magnate Don Christopher donated 10 acres of land off of Miller Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard. The district is planning to sell the land donated by Christopher.
Because so much space is necessary for a high school the district scoured Gilroy searching for a plot of land that would accommodate the new high school. Eventually, district officials told the board that the Day Road parcel was the best option and the board gave it their approval.
Christopher High School
– Scheduled to Open:
Fall of 2009
– Initial projected total cost: $38.5 million
– New estimate:
$47 million
