The construction plans for the 11,000-square-foot L-shaped wing at Booksin initially raised a few eyebrows in the community, after an early draft of the design had it impeding on Cline Park, which borders the school.

Architect Bill Gould, whose firm Bill Gould Design Art & Architecture also designed Galarza Elementary School, responded to staff and community concerns by redesigning the new wing on the existing Booksin campus. The new building will now be located south of Cline Park and at the north end of the existing playground.

After the new building is complete, an existing wing of the school's old portable classrooms will be demolished and its more recent portables will be moved closer to the school's main building.

"Because some portables will be demolished, the playground area will actually be larger than it is now," Gould said.

Before construction starts, the kindergarten playground will also be moved, because its location would be directly behind the construction area, he said.

When Gould presented the revised project at the March 23 community meeting, the crowd, unhappy with the initial design, did an attitude about-face.

"People came in ready to fight," he said, "and by the end were applauding."

Booksin Principal Sharon Roddick says she was encouraged by the community's response at its second meeting and is now looking forward to seeing the final proposal.

"We are redesigning the campus a little bit," she said. "But at this point the footprint has a lot of elements not yet defined."

What she does know is that the doors for the new wing will face the school, and a courtyard will be designed because of the building's L-shape. The new courtyard will provide a space for students to eat lunch, though it is not planned for recess use.

San Jose Unified School District board trustee Carol Myers attended the meeting and said she thought the neighbors living near the school, with previous concerns about the design, had all their questions answered.

"Everyone now seems pleased with what they are doing," she said.

Another community meeting will be scheduled within the next six weeks, Gould said.

The project will be completed in stages, with some underground work this summer and the relocation of the kindergarten playground as the first phases. Gould hopes after a public bid goes out for a general contractor, that construction will commence in the fall and will take one year to complete—ready for the first day of school in August 2005.

When Measure F was passed in 2002, the $429 million bond guaranteed money to repair aging campus facilities in the San Jose Unified School District.

For more information about construction of the new wing at Booksin Elementary School, 1590 Dry Creek Road, call 408.535.6213.