Measure P – the $150 million school facilities bond Gilroyans approved in November 2008 – is mostly spent, and the district has a lot to show for it.
While a large portion of the funds – $35,321,575 – were used to complete the brand new Christopher High School on Day Road, other measure P money got some important work done in the district, too. This includes the revamping of various elements within the Gilroy High School campus; installing fences at various schools to protect students from intruders in a heightened safety age post Sandy Hook; and paying for a new multipurpose room/theater at Rucker Elementary School.
In many cases, Measure P Funds were leveraged by other funding sources. At GHS, more than $7 million in Measure P funds was paired with another $3.3 million from the state and state-matched funding for Career Technical Education classes, ultimately providing aesthetic and structural upgrades at GHS to the tune of $11.3 million.
Here’s a quick glance at additional Measure P projects and what the funds have achieved since they were first went into action in 2008.
Gilroy High School
-Measure P Funds spent: $7,674,397
As the largest Measure P facilities project, aside from finishing CHS, site makeover at GHS involved new paint inside and outside of every classroom, new classroom flooring, an overhaul of the gymnasium floor, a brand-new practice space for the men’s wrestling team, the installation of WiFi and “Safe School locks,” which allow a door to be secured from the inside of a classroom and protect students from armed intruders.
“Although we can’t build new classrooms, our goal was to make the insides of the classrooms look really new and nice,” said GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores.
Thousands of yards of cement was poured to create a new quad amphitheater and landscaping was also added. Eight existing classrooms were transformed into four double classrooms, where one side of the room functions as a traditional teaching space and the other is now a science lab complete with gas, utilities and eye wash stations, bolstering the school’s Biomedical Science Academy that kicked off in fall 2011.
The last phase of work starts this summer and consists of redoing the bathrooms in the gym, changing the paint, upholstery and lighting in the theater, and making adjustments to the Student Center to improve acoustics.
Rucker Elementary
-Measure P Funds spent: $5,503,598
Staff and students are now enjoying a brand new multipurpose room and theater thanks to Measure P Funds. The theater has been in use since December, when the CHS choir held their winter concert in the new venue.
At this school site in rural Gilroy, only two students walk to school, meaning the other 500 plus students pile into campus from buses and cars. Parking and drop-off at this campus was a “huge issue” said Flores, whose own son attended school there for a few years.
GUSD used Measure P dollars to buy a piece of farmland adjacent to the school (the former Leonard homesite) and set about clearing it. The process took 2.5 years and $150,000 before the Department of Toxic Substances approved the land for use as a school parking lot.
In addition to easing the morning drop-off process, Measure P funds allowed for the construction of two new shade structures, which keep the sun and the rain off students while they wait for rides.
The last phase of construction upgrades at Rucker are still in progress. The administration moved into portables during winter break and renovations to the administration building began Feb. 14. The school entrance will be redone, so the only way to enter campus will be through the front office, per recommendations from local law officers who suggested all visitors should come through a single, supervised entrance.
One more parking lot and drop-off area is in the plans and should be in place by the end of summer.
“It’s much better,” Flores said as she reflected on the new drop-off situation. “When we get that last drop-off, it will probably be the best we can make it.”
Rod Kelley
-Measure P Funds spent: $3,450,884
Rod Kelley received a brand new library completed in Spring 2013 thanks to Measure P.
The school was also the last in the district to receive a servery, or serving kitchen, also funded by Measure P dollars.
Measure P Funding also paid for every inch of the new fencing that now encloses the school, protecting the site from any possible armed intruders. While the fencing was installed to keep students safe, it’s also helped to cut down on campus vandalism.
“That campus was hit all the time,” said Flores, noting that after a typical weekend, 10 to 12 doors were covered in graffiti and had to be repainted.
At Rod Kelley, about $5 million in Measure P money has been designated to the campus, but only $3,450,884 had been spent by the end of the 2012-2013 fiscal year. The school – which prides itself on its in-house technology equipment – put aside about a million of their allotted funds towards technology upgrades, some of which have already been implemented, including a new computer lab which went into place in the summer of 2011.
District-wide technology upgrades
-Measure P Funds spent: $1,593,633
Every elementary school classroom is now equipped with a Mobi interactive whiteboard, ELMO projector and a laptop, thanks to the help of Measure P funds. At the high school level, ELMOs were purchased and installed last spring and computers 4 years and older will be replaced this summer.
High schools:
-Christopher: $35,321,575
-Gilroy: $7,674,397
-Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (GECA): $80,571
-Mt. Madonna Continuation: $29,735
Middle schools:
-Brownell: $1,194,165
-Ascencion Solorsano: $837,007
-South Valley: $314,772
Elementary school:
-Rucker: $5,503,598
-Rod Kelley: $3,450,884
-Las Animas: $1,365,512
-Glen View: $297,475
-El Roble: $266,712
-Luigi Aprea: $35,711
