Facilities to be upgraded at San Benito High School
San Benito High School will have improved physical education
facilities, an updated auto shop classroom and a new agricultural
barn within two years, Superintendent Stan Rose said.
Facilities to be upgraded at San Benito High School
San Benito High School will have improved physical education facilities, an updated auto shop classroom and a new agricultural barn within two years, Superintendent Stan Rose said.
Upgrades for the physical education facilities are in the design phase; construction would cost a little more than $4.2 million, Rose said.
The project, first proposed five years ago, includes more basketball courts and a new weight room.
Students were blunt in their appraisal of current facilities.
“The weight room sucks,” said Arturo Villanueva, 18, a SBHS student. “It’s like something out of the time that Arnold was Mr. Universe.”
Natalie Braggs, 15, agreed.
“It’s the only reason I don’t do gym,” Braggs said. “Because the facilities aren’t good enough.”
District funds will pay for the construction, Rose said. Nearly $1.8 million of it will come from money saved on construction of high school facilities on Nash Road, Rose said. Nearly $600,000 more will come from school impact fees from developers.
“Then there’s just under $1.7 million that is coming from our building fund,” Rose said, “and a couple hundred thousand dollars that is coming from our special reserve fund.”
“If we’re not able to get those things, this is the way things will break down,” Rose said.
The auto maintenance classroom will be updated, said Tom Agan, automotive teacher.
“Literally, students are sitting on stools,” Agan said. “They don’t make desks small enough to get everybody in one and still have room to walk around.”
District officials received a state grant for $465,000, Rose said. Administrators would match the grant using district funds.
The agricultural barn is in need of modernization, said Kelly Bianchi, agricultural teacher for the San Benito High School.
“The one we have out there, I think it was built in the early ’50s,” Bianchi said. “It needs to be upgraded – everything; electricity, lights.”
The agricultural barn project will cost a little more than $1.6 million.
Administrators received a state grant for about $360,000, Rose said. The district will match the grant using its own funds.
Administrators also received about $960,000 in private donations.
The construction projects are part of the district’s master facilities plan.
On Feb. 13, members of the San Benito High School board of trustees approved a master facilities plan that will serve as the blueprint for renovations at the high school for the next decade.
“This is basically to maintain the enrollment size that we have right now,” Rose said.
The total cost for the plan would be $59 million, said Laura Wiener, the superintendent secretary for the San Benito High School District.
“The rest of the program is going to be funded as money allows,” Rose said.
“We’re in a good position right now,” Rose said.
The facilities improvements do not empty the district’s reserve funds, Rose said.
Due to decreasing enrollment now, it will be about eight years before enrollment at the high school reaches capacity, Rose said.
The master facilities plan would leave administrators with enough bonding capacity to build another school, Rose said.
“If growth were to happen on the other side of town,” Rose said, “then we would have to look for another piece of property.”
It would take about two years and $100 million to build a new school for 1,500 students, Rose said.
“It will very likely involve the community,” Rose said. “And at that point, it will likely involve a bond.”
