Meadows Union Schools breaks ground for new gym
EL CENTRO — The only school within the tiny Meadows Union School District is finally getting its own gymnasium.
Meadows Union Elementary School, located on the outskirts of El Centro on Bowker Road, has been in operation more than 60 years, but so far its students have never had an indoor recreation and athletic facility on campus.
The wait should end by next spring, when the school expects to open 13,000-square-foot gymnasium, including space for two classrooms.
The school held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new building on Friday that was attended by the student body, faculty, school board members, district and county education officials, and others.
The school has just more 500 students in grades kindergarten through eighth, and they appeared excited as they collected on the plot behind the school where the new building will appear.
“Today is a great day to be a (Meadows Union) Knight,” District Superintendent Mario Garcia told them in his opening remarks.
Garcia said cost of the project will be approximately $7.4 million, of which $5.8 million is coming from a bond issue approved by voters in November 2016 under Measure R.
Board President Ernesto Pinedo said the school will face a challenge in coming up with the $1.6 million shortfall. However, he said he believes there is state funding for which the school qualifies based on its average daily attendance, and he said the change in governorship of the state will result in more money being released to schools. Regardless, it’s a problem the school will have to solve within the next year, before the interest kicks in and the payments start coming due.
Local architect Jim Sanders led the blueprint work for the project, and San Diego-based Nielsen Construction is the general contractor.
Constuction will start in earnest next week and is projected to be completed in about 11 months, Garcia said.