New WUSD construction shooting up all over town, funded by Proposition 47

After a spring filled with budget cuts and a summer of endless
governor recall discussions, last November’s election day is a
distant memory in the minds of many Windsor voters.
For a quick reminder of what the state accomplished last
November, Windsor residents need only look at its school district.
When California voters passed Proposition 47 in 2002, schools
statewide were promised a total $13 billion that would be used for
improvements of school facilities. Windsor’s piece came to more
than $8 million.
“We have $8 million of state funds in the bank,” said WUSD
Director of Business Services Wade Roach. With money in hand, the
district has begun large projects on four of its five schools. All
of these projects are being paid for by Prop 47 money, keeping
construction costs away from the district’s already strained
general fund.
At Brooks Elementary, a large fence is dividing the campus in
half. Inside the fence, the construction firm GCCI Inc. is building
new classrooms, a library, a computer room, and an administration
building. The project is expected to cost the state approximately
$2.2 million, and is scheduled to be completed in 2004.
“We call it the addition,” said WUSD Facilities Planner/Project
Manager Mark Wheeler, who oversees all of the district’s
construction projects. “We’re adding classrooms, and for the first
time, we’re building a library, administration and computer
building.”
Tucked away in the back of the Cali Calmécac Charter School
campus is another fenced off area, which will be turned into a new
two-story classroom and a multi-purpose room structure in 2004. The
two-story building will house 13 classrooms, rest rooms, and an
elevator. The multi-purpose building will function as a gym, and
will be much larger than the current multi-purpose room. The school
board awarded the Cali Calmémcac contract to James Nolan
Construction, which will be paid $2.21 million to complete the
project.
After all of the construction is complete, the campus will still
have room for an athletic field, and is currently looking for
donations from the community to help bring about that dream.
According to Wheeler, the district would need approximately
$200,000 to $300,000 to build the field – money that was not
available through Prop 47.
To make room for the growing student population at Windsor
Middle School, nine new classrooms are being built. “The additional
classrooms will allow us to increase our enrollment,” said Roach.
The state gives the district money for each student who attends
school, and the new classrooms will allow for a larger student
population. “We had to stop taking students a year ago because we
didn’t have the classrooms,” said Roach. Work at WMS will cost
approximately $2.3 million.
Windsor High School is also receiving its share of improvements,
including a new gym (a second, smaller one), an agriculture
building and new classrooms. “The Ag building is going to be
dedicated to a past, prominent school board member, Larry E.
Vasconi,” said Wheeler.
The WHS projects will be completed in two phases, all of which
will be done by 2005. The district awarded a $3.2 million contract
to Alten Construction to complete all of the high school
projects.
Two additional modernization projects, at Windsor Creek and Cali
Calimécac, are slated for summer 2004, but have not been
finalized.