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Students and teachers at Capri Elementary School now look out of their classroom windows and see large-track bulldozers tearing apart what was once a field of green. Pieces of heavy construction equipment have moved on-site, with their engines and whistles blaring as they break apart concrete and dirt and then dump it into trucks waiting to haul the refuse away.
"I think it's annoying," said Capri student Imahni Dawson, referring to the trucks moving back and forth on what was once a field she played on. "They make all these sounds that make us think our recess is over when it's not."
The construction, which began March 9, represents groundbreaking measures to expand Capri's classroom capacity. This construction will also prepare a new site for the Village School, which will be relocating to Capri in the 200405 school year.
The groundbreaking also represents the start of changes in the school district on a scale not seen since 1996 and 1997, said Campbell Union School District Superintendent Johanna VanderMolen. During those years, the district built its three newest schools—Campbell Middle School and Rosemary and Sherman Oaks elementary schools.
"There will be $15 million expended this summer," VanderMolen said. "And it's all starting now."
More than 95 percent of the money comes from Measure H funds. The $74.9 million measure was passed in March 2002 to repair, renovate and modernize elementary and middle schools in the Campbell Union School District. The balance of the funding comes from developer fees and miscellaneous grants.
Most of the district's 12 schools will also be the beneficiaries of bond funding with repair or renovation projects scheduled this summer, VanderMolen said. The list of projects includes 68 new classrooms, the relocation of staff and equipment, and the building of new knowledge centers and gymnasiums.
Marshall Lane Elementary School's new library/knowledge center is almost complete, but the construction of a new administrative wing will begin this summer.
Rolling Hills Middle School will be getting new modular buildings and a new gymnasium. At Castlemont Elementary School, 15 to 18 old portable classrooms will be replaced; new regulations deem them to be not up to earthquake-safety standards.
And construction is already under way at Monroe Middle School, where extensive renovations will modernize the campus.
Most of the construction is slated to be complete before the 200405 school year begins, VanderMolen said
Considering that such large-scale construction will occur in such a short period of time, the district has modified the school year to start a bit later. School will begin Sept. 7 in the 200405 year, compared with Aug. 25 this past year. The February break for 200405 will be shortened, and the students' last day of school will be June 17.
The revised schedule is particularly important for Capri and Hazelwood elementary schools. At meetings last year to discuss the consolidation of the two schools, parents voiced reservations that extensive changes could not be implemented in time for the new school year.
The Campbell Union School District's governing board in December 2003 voted unanimously to close its Hazelwood campus on Waldo Avenue and expand the classroom capacity of Capri School on Chapman Avenue to accommodate the relocation of most of the Hazelwood students. As part of the consolidation, the special education students now at Hazelwood will go to Lynhaven and Forest Hill, which will both get new classroom wings by the fall of 2004. Moreover, the parent-participation program at Village School, which currently is being housed in Hazelwood, will relocate to a brand new campus now being built on one side of the existing Capri site.
The timeline, however, is reasonable, VanderMolen said, and she's confident that the district can meet the deadlines.
Although most parents and students at Hazelwood haven't seen the construction at Capri, they nonetheless are feeling that the end of Hazelwood's days is drawing near.
Hazelwood parent Beth Linder's children aren't looking forward to the closing of the school they've attended for years, Linder said.
"Hazelwood is a small, close-knit community, and next year they'll be put on a campus with 800 kids," she said. "We're all just sad it has to close."
Some people, however, are excited about the groundbreaking.
"What the children see in their new classes at Capri will be new," Hazelwood PTA vice president JoAnna said. "I'm of the thought that new experiences are good growth experiences."
Village School Principal Katie Middlebrook, who will be moving into the new Village School campus in the fall, is equally optimistic about the upcoming year.
"We're thrilled," she said. "The students here are excited about the move, but they're a little scared, too. They really don't want to leave what they know."
Her counterpart at Capri, Wayne Leachman, shares her sentiments.
"The construction is a bit of an inconvenience now," he said, looking out at the heavy trucks rolling on the grass just off of his blacktop. "But this will make us a better school and a better community."
Site plans for the major construction projects are available for public review at the respective school offices as well as at the Campbell Union School District Administrative Building at 155 N. Third Street, Campbell.
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