Saturday, August 30, 2008

Building projects set at Bosque Farms, Peralta schools

Duane Barbati News-Bulletin Staff Writer; dbarbati@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas The Los Lunas Board of Education approved the sale of $8.8 million in general obligation bonds Tuesday to complete proposed construction projects over the next two years.

The bond sale will allow the board to start construction of a $5.8 million Katherine Gallegos Elementary classroom addition in January.

Los Lunas Schools received $4.3 million in capital outlay funds from the state legislature to complete the classroom addition. The bond sale is part of the board's obligation to provide matching funds for the project that voters approved as part of the $30 million bond passed by voters on Jan. 28.

The Katherine Gallegos school construction project will add eight new classrooms to the building.

"We're going to also try to address some of the drainage problems at the school," Superintendent Walt Gibson said. "The addition is going to go on the southeast corner of the building. It will be on the end of the corridor that runs by the gym. It will extend the corridor with four classrooms on one side and four on the other side."

He said he estimates that, a year ago, the district had 114 portable classrooms being used for instruction overall.

"What we would like to do over the next few years is retire as many of the portable classrooms as possible," Gibson said. "We would like to get them into brick and mortar buildings. Many of our portables are old. We've kept them in good shape, but we need to retire them."

The board also approved two architectural firms to begin designing plans for the Bosque Farms and Peralta elementary schools renovations, and Tomé and Los Lunas elementary gymnasiums.

The Dekker, Perich and Sabatini architecture firm will design plans for the Bosque Farms renovations. Claudio Vigil Architects will design plans for the Peralta renovations and Tomé and Los Lunas gymnasiums.

The $7.8 million estimated renovation project at Bosque Farms is to construct a classroom addition for the 500 students at the school, expand the computer laboratory and make improvements to the roof, security fence, playground and parking lot.

The estimated $6.6 million Peralta Elementary School project is to add eight more classrooms, make improvements to the playground, security fence and parking lot. Peralta's roof and north wall are to be removed and replaced.

The Bosque Farms construction project is planned for the 2009-10 school year and Peralta's in 2010-11.

"We've had a pattern of population growth over the last decade," Gibson said. "Last year, we didn't have growth and stayed relatively the same. We can't just look at how many kids are enrolled now. We have to look at how many houses are being built and population projections for the future."

He said the school district has to anticipate population growth for the future.

"I don't think anybody in Los Lunas thinks that the population growth isn't going to pick up again as soon as the economy changes," Gibson said. "We're planning for the future. We're also trying to get our schools up to standards."

The Tomé and Los Lunas gyms are estimated to cost $1.2 million apiece with construction set to begin in the 2009-10 school year.

The school district takes an official school student population day on the 10th day of classes. Los Lunas had a 100-student decline in enrollment from last year's official count on the first day of school. On the second day of tabulation, enrollment was up by 40 students. The state requires school districts to count students for state funding on the 40th, 80th and 120th day of classes.

Gibson said he is fully aware of the decline of enrollment on the first day of the district's student count.

"One of the things that happens here is we have a late arriving crowd," he said. "Some folks don't know when school starts or don't send their kids to school for some reason. Last year, from the first day of school to Labor Day, we grew by a thousand kids. We were hoping for an increase in population because it brings in more state funding. Hopefully, we'll see those kids show up. This has always been a growth district. In the long run, it will be a growth district."

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