Hollister
– Next winter, a rainy afternoon will no longer mean wet peanut
butter and jelly for students at Spring Grove School.
Hollister – Next winter, a rainy afternoon will no longer mean wet peanut butter and jelly for students at Spring Grove School.
The small rural school in northern San Benito County is undergoing a $3.3 million modernization project this summer, including an indoor cafeteria. The project is paid for through a bond measure passed in June 2006.
Construction began last week, the day after school got out, and is expected to take the entire summer.
“I’m excited about it all. By the end of it all, we will be in pretty good shape for the next few years,” said Evelyn Muro, Spring Grove principal and North County Joint Union School District superintendent.
The project consists of remodeling the upper-grade classrooms, an indoor eating area, a new library, expanded parking and four new classrooms. Next summer, the district also will install new fields.
In the summer of 2005, Spring Grove underwent a different $3 million remodel, replacing classrooms that had been built in the 1970s. This second project will complete its “modernization.”
“One of the things we realized was that our upper-grade classrooms were really our smallest,” Muro said. “We had our biggest kids with the biggest backpacks in the smallest classrooms.”
The remodel will expand those classes and install permanent walls between each room.
Muro said the project must be completed in time for school’s start August 20. For now, the construction is on schedule.
“People are very excited it’s moving along so quickly and smoothly. We’re very happy with the progress that we’ve had in a short number of days,” said Shannon Hanson, director of fiscal services.
The bond measure – it passed by only a few votes – was financed through a property tax on the district’s voters in north San Benito and south Santa Clara counties. The cost to voters was $29 per $100,000 in assessed property value.
