Somerton High School update on YUHSD agenda

In a work session Wednesday evening, the Yuma Union High School District governing board will convene to provide a progress update on Somerton High School and participate in a security design workshop with DLR Group and Arcadis, who comprise the project’s team of architects, designers and coordinators.

The meeting is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday. Though closed to in-person attendance due to social distancing concerns, the public can attend the meeting virtually via the district’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/YUHSD.

The meeting will also be available to view within 24 hours of its conclusion at www.yumaunion.org.

During the governing board’s Sept. 9 meeting, representatives from DLR Group and Arcadis indicated that the programming design plan for South County campus was 50% complete and set to go before Somerton City Council the following week.

To be constructed on the corner of Jefferson Street and Cesar Chavez Boulevard, the school should be open to students by 2023, district officials hope. The funding to complete the project and achieve this target date, however, is subject to the Arizona School Facilities Board (SFB)’s recommendation to the state Legislature on Dec. 9 following a 40-day enrollment count that took place on Oct. 1.

Last year’s 40-day count offset the district’s initial goal to attain state funding last fiscal year and open the school by 2022, as the data collected by SFB indicated the district’s annualized growth rate of student enrollment only increased by 1%, meaning the district was not yet operating over capacity.

A 2015 Yuma County voter-approved bond did allocate $20 million for the project; however, the completion of Somerton High School hinges upon funding from the state, which will not be determined until, at the earliest, December.

“If the funding lines up and we stay on schedule, you’ll have the school open in three years,” Arcadis Principal Project Director Bill Lukehart told the governing board in September.

The agenda for Wednesday’s work session is available at www.yumaunion.org.