San Benito High School may break ground on a new physical education building that was at least four years in the planning as early as after winter break.
The school has put at least $800,000 in general fund money aside to build a weight room, wrestling space and classroom where students can escape the sun and the rain, explained Superintendent John Perales.
“I’m really just kind of excited about the opportunity of having it,” said Head Wrestling Coach Brian DeCarli.
The plans for the construction of a new athletic building come just after voters approved Measure G – a $42.5 million general obligation facilities bond – which trustees and administrators contended would go mostly toward academics instead of athletics.
While Measure G was approved by voters in June, the district needs to select an architect, select a construction company and refresh the master plan with the input of stakeholders such as teachers and community members before they start building.
School administrators explained that this athletics project had been in the pipeline long before the bond was passed and would be paid for from the general fund.
“We’re ready to break ground in four or five months. You can’t do that if we were hedging our bet and waiting for the bond to pass,” Perales said.
The new superintendent, on the job for almost five months, sees the new building as a way to support students. He was surprised to see the school’s football students practicing in the parking lot this summer because there was not enough room for the group in the school’s current weight room.
“It is absolutely perplexing to me that Hollister’s high school has some of the best athletics in Northern California but our students are having to work out in a parking lot,” Perales said.
Perales is not the only one who believes the physical education facilities need some attention. DeCarli has seen first-hand the way crowds of students moving through school athletic buildings cause the buildings’ infrastructure to break down.
“You have close to 3,000 students in the school,” DeCarli said. “Just like a lot of buildings with a lot of students going through – there’s just a lot of wear and tear on them. We’re definitely in need of improvements all around.”
DeCarli didn’t know all the details of the proposed building but understood the new space would be used primarily by physical education students, with the wrestling team using it after school.
“It’s nice if this is going to be pushed through. It’s going to help our physical education students in both sides – in P.E. classes and with the weight room side of it all,” he said. “It’s good, if it does happen.”
The physical education building was one of three projects – including reroofing the Mattson Gym and creating a more unified P.A. system – which had been planned for the school before the bond was approved, according to Trustee Ray Rodriguez.
“No money is coming out of the new facilities bond for this,” Rodriguez said. “No fees. No construction money.”
Rodriguez’s four sons went through the school’s wrestling and football programs and used the current weight room, which the trustee called a “shoe box” of a building constructed in the 1950’s.
“I think we really need to take care of these athletes,” Rodriguez said. “But they were students also, so they had to take care of their education and I’m not willing to throw away academics for athletics in any way, shape or form.”
Perales previously worked as the human resources director of certificated personnel in the Gilroy Unified School District, where both the high schools have state of the art weight rooms. He was surprised to learn his new high school did not have the same facilities.
“To me that’s perplexing,” he said. “Our academics are always number one. That is our mission, but as a comprehensive high school we’re multifaceted.”
Before construction can start, the San Benito High School District must choose a pre-construction services company to estimate the final costs of the project. Then the district will hire an architect and send the final plans to the Division of the State Architect for review. Once the plans return, it will be time to break ground.
