The final touches on a nearly $7 million renovation project will soon be underway at Spring Grove School.
Three more projects remain on North County School District’s to-do list: new landscaping in the front of the school; renovation of the school’s administrative offices, which began on Nov. 19 and were to be completed by the time students returned in January, 2008 after a two-week Christmas break; and new athletic fields, which will be installed over summer vacation.
“It’s been great,” Superintendent Evelyn Muro said. “We are almost finished and it will be like having a brand new school.”
The school’s overhaul began two years ago with a renovation project that included 16 new classrooms for grades K-3 and a new science lab. This past summer, construction was completed on a new library, complete with a computer lab and an indoor cafeteria as well as upgrades to the school’s entire upper grade classrooms.
The first phase of the renovation project cost approximately $3 million and included utility and ground preparation, the removal of 16 portable classrooms, a new staff room, new science lab, new district office, a new intercom system in all classrooms, a new telephone system that provides each teacher with voicemail, two new sets of bathrooms, new asphalt and new playground equipment. An additional $30,000 donated by the Spring Grove Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) allowed the district to purchase all new wiring and a new, upgraded network for the school’s computers. Because the K-3 classrooms were between 30 and 35 years old, North County qualified for funds through a state modernization project. The only direct cost to the district for the renovation’s first phase was covered by a $400,000 loan from a local bank.
The second phase of Spring Grove’s renovation was made possible through the passage of Measure M, a $3.7 million bond measure approved by voters of the North County School District in 2006.
Construction of an indoor cafeteria was a priority during the second phase of construction. Rather than build a brand new cafeteria, however, district officials instead chose to convert the school’s existing library into an indoor eating area/multi-use room, and construct a new library.
“The library was a bonus,” Muro said, “we decided to turn our old library into the cafeteria, and build a new library, with new computers and new materials. It really has become the heart of the school.”
Along with the library and cafeteria, the second phase of renovation included the construction of four new classrooms and the upgrade and modernization of 15 upper grade classrooms, which included enlarging the rooms and technological improvements, such as the addition of smart boards to each classroom. Smart boards are large, interactive screens that allow teachers to use laptop computers to generate lessons in a variety of subjects, including math, grammar and science. Boards are hung on a wall in the classroom; the teacher then plugs in a laptop computer, on which the day’s lesson plan has already been created. The lesson appears on the screen, which is large enough for every student to see.
Finally, a new bus turn-around and drop-off area was installed and additional spaces were added to the existing parking lot, Muro said.
The final touches to landscaping around the front of the school will be completed by the end of the year, as will the renovation to the school offices. The installation of the new athletic fields will begin at the end of the 2007-08 school year.
