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| Groundbreaking set for new K-8 campus |
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| Written by Maddy Houk / Patterson Irrigator / | |
| Friday, 02 May 2008 | |
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At a glance
WHAT: Groundbreaking ceremony for Walnut Grove SchoolWHEN: 11:30 a.m. May 12; lunch will be served WHERE: 775 Hartley Ave., corner of Hartley and Walnut avenues INFO: RSVP by Friday, 895-7700 Walnut Grove Site Map Phase 2  Jorge Perez of Tracy unpacks building materials Monday at the site of the new Walnut Grove School. Behind him, foundation work on the city's joint-use gym is already under way at the campus. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator The 24-acre campus sits in eastern Patterson, within the proposed Villages of Patterson building project. It will open in August 2009 for 600 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. A formal groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for May 12. Mark Wheeler, the manager of facilities and construction in the district, said the school will be for students already in the district and later on will accept girls and boys who enter the area because of new housing development. “It’s really to provide relief for existing kindergartners through sixth graders at Northmead and some at Las Palmas, so they can come off year-round (schedules),” Wheeler said Monday, as he walked the campus. As student enrollment in the district grows again, the school will be converted to house only middle school-age students. F & H Construction of Stockton is building Walnut Grove for $21 million for the first enrollment of 600 kids. It will start out with 27 classrooms — a mix of permanent and portable — with buildings added in phases. This week, conduits and electrical work were installed for the joint-use gym, which will be shared with the city; the kitchen, where food will be served but not cooked from scratch; classrooms; and soccer, baseball and play fields. The gym will be 19,000 square feet and have a basketball court for use by the school and Patterson Parks and Recreation Department. Classrooms will form a horseshoe shape around the campus, and kids will have plenty of places to play, because two-thirds of the site will be done up in asphalt and grass.  Mark Wheeler, assistant superintendent of facilities and construction for Patterson Unified School District, points out the parts that will make up Walnut Grove School. Far left, a map shows the two phases of construction. The campus will open in August 2009 with 600 kindergartners through eighth-graders. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator The school board has borrowed the remaining $10 million from Certificates of Participation, a source of borrowing the district will pay back over a 20-year period starting in 2010. Money for new schools is paid out of the district’s facility account, which consists of developer fees. That’s separate from the district’s general fund money, which is used for daily operating expenses and salaries. The school board will conduct a telephone survey at the end of May concerning a possible school bond issue to pay off the $10 million loan, build a library and student services building at Walnut Grove, and cover other expenditures on local campuses. “We want to find out the voters’ interest in new facilities, and we want to modernize old facilities,” Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said. To reach Maddy Houk at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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