Renovations at multiple schools in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) are underway, including a complete rebuild of one school in Los Osos.
The projects, costing up to $349 million, are being funded through Measure C, which was approved by voters in 2022.
“New carpet, paint, roofing, outside, HVAC — so, heating, ventilation, air conditioning — adding that to all of the campuses," said Ryan Pinkerton, SLCUSD Assistant Superintendent.
Project manager Chris Peoples said they're two weeks away from completing the first of three phases at Del Mar Elementary School in Morro Bay.
Nearly $6 million is allocated for the work that includes a new building with classrooms, updated older classrooms, and new pavement.
Pinkerton said they try to get as much work done over the summer as they can, but adjust during the school year to keep classrooms open.
“The kids will move into a set of classrooms and then we’ll go into the ones that have been vacated and redo those and when they’re done, we’ll move the students in and we’ll start the next phase," Pinkerton said.
In Los Osos, a major modernization project will take place at Baywood Elementary.
“We’ll build a whole new campus on the east half of campus and then basically flip-flop the layout,” Peoples explained.
Peoples added that the new campus will take over the current blacktop and field area. The current buildings will eventually be demolished and new outdoor spaces installed.
Pinkerton said they’ve noticed that new facilities make kids more excited about coming to school.
“We had all these complaints of bathrooms and just all those types of things and now they have these like fresh new facilities," Pinkerton said.
The district has set aside just over $58 million for the work at Baywood Elementary, which will be done in two phases.
The district’s plan is currently under county review. It will then go to the Division of State Architects.
“From there, then we can start on getting bidding and start construction after that point,” Peoples said.
The work is expected to get underway sometime next year.
