The Morning Report
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Thursday, July 21, 2005 | The Grossmont Union High School District is holding a ground-breaking ceremony at 10 a.m. today at Grossmont High School, at 1100 Murray Drive in El Cajon, to mark the beginning of Phase One of a major infrastructure improvement project that a spokesperson for the district called “the largest public works building project in the history of East County.”
The GUHSD project begins with its oldest schools: Grossmont, El Cajon Valley, Helix and Granite Hills high schools. After infrastructure improvements at these four schools are completed, which is estimated to take less than one year, the district will renovate each campus’s buildings. Four more high schools will receive infrastructure upgrades beginning next summer, with the building renovations of those campuses to follow.
The project, funded by the $274-million Proposition H bond measure approved by voters in March 2004, will allow the district to construct a new high school as well as address needs in existing facilities, including: upgrade deteriorated plumbing and restrooms; repair aging roofs; improve fire safety and security; renovate classrooms and science labs; improve buildings and grounds; and upgrade electrical, technology, heating and cooling systems.
Participating in the ground-breaking ceremony today are Assembly member Jay La Suer from the 77th Assembly district, San Diego County Board of Education president Robert Watkins, GUHSD school board president James Kelly and GUHSD superintendent Terry Ryan.
There are a total of 11 GUHSD high schools, serving about 24,000 students in grades 9-12. More information can be found on the district’s Web site.
– MARSHA SUTTON, Voice Education Writer