New Building

New building coming soon

By Luis Derla

From the rumble of jackhammers to the beeps of construction machinery, a flurry of workers come everyday to work on the new building at AHS. The smell of soil, dust and powdered concrete dominate the senses. The new building stands triumphantly over its gray foundations, seeking to house future generations of students. A tangible, chrome odor accompanied its new ID-card activated doors, state-of-the-art televisions, and shiny bathrooms. Alongside its perimeter were various types of plant life made to contrast the concrete. It is a glimpse of the future of AHS, a move forward in our changing educational environment.

The new building being constructed is the first major infrastructure development in AHS since the construction of the science hall in 2011. Its design phase started twoand-a-half years ago. Construction progress is 90% complete, and should be complete by March 2023 and ready for the following school year. The purpose of this new building is to modernize AHS’s infrastructure and replace the portables, and make room for new students long into the future.

Director of Facilities and Construction Behrooz Danish is the lead of this construction project. He makes sure that the district’s longterm and short-term visions are enacted, and he is currently working on 13 other projects. He and his construction team coordinated with AHS’s administration to make this a reality. The work is interdepartmental, where various departments of the district work together to construct the building.

“The old portables that we have districtwide in most of the campuses including [AHS] were meant to be temporarily used. But in some cases we have been using them for decades, and at [AHS] we had a total of 12 portable classrooms that needed to be replaced with new structures.” Danish said.

The project’s cost was approximately $7 to $10 million dollars, funded by the San Lorenzo taxpayers via Measure B, an initiative voted in late 2018 by the community that allocates nearly $130 million in bonds towards school modernization.

“The design of the portable classrooms are for temporary use, but because of the school needs and the school’s number of students, the portables have been used on [a] permanent basis since 1996. But typically the [lifespan] of the portables is 25 years, and we are getting close to that.” Danish said.

Paraeducator Ian Poole is a teacher’s assistant in the Special Education (SPED) program. He enthusiastically supports AHS’s new initiative. The current facilities used for the program may be satisfactory, but are limited and cannot function in full capacity. Three out of eight classrooms inside will be given to the SPED program, while the other five will be for general education. The rooms have designated bathrooms, hoyer lifts, and kitchens. This includes a dedicated driveway for the program’s use.

“This new building will allow the teachers that I work with to teach functional life skills. This will be a huge advantage for the students that I work with as they need to learn these skills to be as independent as possible,” said Poole.

English teacher Kingsley Andersen’s classroom is nearby the construction site, and has observed its construction since its inception. Its noise sometimes bleeds through the walls and windows of his classroom, but he says that the workers were diligent in fulfilling their duties, and were kind enough to be mindful of class time.

Though he is supportive of the new building, Andersen believes that the district should prioritize bringing teacher salaries up-to-par with the rest of the country to retain employed teachers and attract new ones, especially in a time when student enrollment is declining.

“It’s very interesting. We have declining enrollment at this time so it’s a strange time to be building new buildings, but apparently the SPED department will be moving out there, and I think the rooms are more conducive to their operations [and] more up to date.” Andersen said.

The $7 to $10 million allocated to this project may seem like an extravagant sum better spent in fixing AHS’s dilapidated bathrooms, lockers, and classrooms. However, a plan had already been made just for that.

“There’s another project, we call it “[AHS] Existing Campus Modernization”; that’s currently in the design phase, part of the district’s long term plans, and we’ll [modernize] the existing campus [in] the next three years.” Behrooz said.

Danish remains optimistic that school modernizations will continue according to plan. Between declining student enrollment and the need for higher pay, the school has much on its plate to handle. Ultimately, the new building is only a puzzle piece in the wider extrapolations of the school district. After all, future generations are bound to learn in AHS.

“This is in alignment with the 50-year long term plan of the district because no matter what, [AHS]’s going to be here for the next 50 years,” Danish said.

Photographer Luis Derla

The new building stands behind M-hall, beside the student parking lot, and is currently under construction.