Changes in store for Owens Primary, Intermediate schools
Bakersfield City School District is in the midst of several construction and modernization projects, and big changes are planned for Owens Primary and Intermediate schools in the next few years.
District enrollment has increased by almost 4,000 students during the last 12 years, according to Steve McClain, assistant superintendent of business services for BCSD. Only one middle school has been built during that time — Paul L. Cato Middle School in 2014 in northeast Bakersfield — but that hasn’t helped offset capacity issues at most middle and junior high schools in the district.
In addition, students from Jefferson, Williams and Fremont elementary schools and Owens Intermediate are bused across the district to junior highs and middle schools in east Bakersfield, such as Compton and Chipman junior high schools and Stiern Middle School.
“We really want to figure out a way to position a junior high campus in central Bakersfield,” McClain said.
So the district looked at the two Owens schools.
Owens Primary serves grades kindergarten through third, while Owens Intermediate has fourth through sixth grade classes. Owens Intermediate used to be a junior high school in the past, so “why not have it be a junior high again,” said McClain.
Two proposed modernization projects are on the table.
The district is planning to convert Owens Primary into a kindergarten through sixth grade school, and Owens Intermediate will be converted into a junior high with grades seventh and eighth.
For Owens Primary, the campus remodel project will include a new administration/library building, eight new kindergarten classrooms and play areas, the replacement of 18 80-plus-year- old buildings with 21 new classrooms and expanded parking and student drop-off areas. BCSD applied and was approved for a $5 million state grant to fund the new kindergarten classrooms, McClain said.
Owens Intermediate’s remodel will include nine new classrooms, three new physical education classrooms, a larger administration/library/parent center building and expanded student eating areas, play areas, parking and student drop-off areas.
Each campus would hold up to 900 students.
Construction is anticipated to begin spring 2020 with an August 2021 opening. Both schools will be open during the 2020-2021 school year while construction is taking place.
What the district hopes to achieve with these projects is the notion of “neighborhood schools” and the benefits families will experience by living within walking distance to their elementary and junior high schools.
“If kids are spending less time on buses and more time going to school with their neighbors, it improves the learning experience,” said Randy Rowles, director of maintenance, operations and transportation. “Additionally, our school service centers provide different services to our students. It makes access and parent engagement in schools and activities easier when they’re going to school closer to home.”
Both of these projects are currently in the design stage and are expected to cost approximately $28 million with funding provided by state matching funds and Measure N school bond funds that were approved by district voters in 2016, according to McClain.
District officials say they will begin notifying parents of upcoming changes in the coming months. There will also be discussions and meetings regarding boundary changes in spring 2020.