SOLEDAD — Soledad Unified School District Superintendent Tim Vanoli updated Soledad Rotarians on the state of the schools as of April 5.
Currently in all the schools the student count is more than 4,000 students. The five elementary schools have about 500 to 550 students in each school. Main Street Middle School serves about 770 students currently and the high school has roughly 1,411 students, double the amount of students it served when it first opened.
The school district has a big project underway in the new buildings at Main Street Middle School. According to Vanoli, the project is 50 percent completed.
“There was a slight delay with casing the HVAC in place,” said Vanoli. “Dilbeck is the contractor and they have a lease and have to be done by December.”
There are four buildings that are part of the new Main Street Middle School. Three of the four buildings are part of the school bond. The fourth building is funded through a Certificate of Participation.
“It will be open in August 2019,” Vanoli said. “Once Dilbeck is done and construction is done, we have to stage everything and move everything in. Then the kids can have a great place.”
The new school will be able to serve 1,200 students.
The district is looking at a new measure for June as well. Measure G is going to be placed on the ballot in response to the high school bond measure scheduled to sunset in 2021.
“The School Board is extending the bond out to 2047-48,” Vanoli said. “That would bring in about about $25 million to provide facility upgrades to all our schools.”
Among the items that Vanoli said the bond extension would cover, if approved, would be paint for the high schools and other schools in the district, new play structures, traffic improvements, as well as making improvements to the high school track structure.
“This would be like the best spot in the Valley to hold a track meet,” he said.
