Woodland High School students and staff will be cooler in the upcoming school year.
Following installations throughout the summer, the high school now has 14 new HVAC systems installed this summer as part of Measure Y school improvement projects.
"We're very thankful to our Woodland community for investing in our students, schools, and community," stated Woodland High School Principal Gerald Salcido. "These much-needed HVAC systems will help keep our students comfortable so they can focus and do their best in the classroom."
Woodland voters passed the $44 million Measure Y bond in 2020 to improve Woodland schools and facilities. At the time, schools were shut down due to the pandemic. Since then, Woodland Joint Unified School District made strides in recovering from the pandemic, finalizing Measure Y designs, approving construction plans, and building partnerships to improve school facilities.
The WJUSD broke ground on improvement projects at five schools in June, including installing the much-needed HVAC units at Woodland High School. The other schools in the first phase of improvements are Beamer, Dingle, Gibson and Cache Creek High School.
WJUSD has identified $600 million in schools and facility improvement needs, making Measure Y welcome and timely for the Woodland community to get started on much-needed renovations.
"The $44 million from Measure Y is a great start toward meeting our community's needs and we're starting with safety improvements," stated Superintendent Elodia Ortega-Lampkin. "Measure Y will make each of our schools safer, more secure, and more inviting while building even more community pride in our schools. We couldn't thank our community enough for investing in our youth."
Measure Y specifically extends the current 1999 school bond's tax rates and provides around $44 million for all 18 schools in the district. The measure directs money toward expanding vocational education facilities for programs including automotive engineering and construction trades, improving classroom technology and internet access, repairing classrooms and schools and replacing roofs, HVAC, wiring and plumbing.
Voters in Woodland had not approved a facilities bond since 1999. Final results from 2020 showed the bond passed with 61.49% or 17,117 votes for and 10,722 votes or 38.51% against.
Measure Y school improvements include:
- Security upgrades like new gates, fencing, security cameras and classroom door locks
- Revitalizing schools with fresh paint
- Improving access points for safely picking up and dropping off students
- Improving ADA accessibility (Americans with Disability Act)
"All of our schools will benefit from Measure Y safety upgrades," Ortega-Lampkin stated. "After we complete one group of schools, we will move on to the next group. We can't wait for our students and families to see the first phase of improvements next month and we'll keep our community updated throughout each phase so everyone can see their tax dollars at work and take pride in the direct benefit to our schools and students."
No comments:
Post a Comment