ENCINITAS — If one were to liken San Dieguito Union High School District’s construction campaign to a three-course dinner, last year was just the appetizer.
The main course begins this year.
The district’s $449 million Proposition AA building campaign kicks into high gear across the district, as a number of key projects commence that will ultimately reshape the classroom experience district wide.
“This is the big year,” said John Addleman, the district’s director of planning services. “We’ve got a dizzying amount of construction going on across the district.”
Voters narrowly approved the construction bond in November 2012.
Last year, the big project was the renovation of San Dieguito High School Academy’s stadium, which was completed in time for the school’s graduation in June.
A similar revamp is nearing completion at Canyon Crest Academy.
Currently, there are 11 projects either underway or set to kick off during the 2014-15 school year.
Some are minor, such as renovations to media centers at Carmel Valley and Diegueno middle schools, which are expected to be finished at the start of the upcoming school year.
Officials expect construction of a permanent weight room at Torrey Pines High School to be completed in the fall.
Others projects, however, will alter the landscapes of their respective campuses: Addleman said he expects construction to begin on a brand new two-story math and science building at San Dieguito High School Academy next spring.
Earl Warren Middle School will also start on the long-awaited reconstruction of its campus in 2015.
Torrey Pines is also getting brand new chemistry classrooms and a performing arts center in 2015.
Oak Crest Middle School will get a new gym, and buildings for science art and music starting 2015.
The district anticipates placing portable units at San Dieguito to accommodate the increased capacity until the buildings are completed by 2016.
“Some of the district’s classroom infrastructure has been around since the 1930s and 1950s,” Addleman said. “So this is some of the first new construction on some of these campuses in a generation. It’s long overdue.”
Additionally, the district begins construction on the first buildings that will ultimately become the district’s fifth middle school in Pacific Highlands adjacent to Canyon Crest Academy.
The school is scheduled to open for the 2015 school year.
District officials asked parents, again, to mind the dust. The final results, some eight years from now, will propel the district into new century and beyond.
“For one, it will create classrooms that will last another lifetime,” Addleman said. “The new classrooms will be flexible, adaptable and tech heavy, and will serve the educational vision for the district for the next 50 years.”
