$8.5 million construction plan begins

Construction crews from AC Tractor, Inc., prepare the sewage system for the new buildings at Lockeford Elementary School. (Natalie Flynn/News-Sentinel)

$8.5 million construction plan begins

Lockeford Elementary School expansion may finish in about a year

By Natalie Flynn
Special to the News-Sentinel

Thursday, July 3, 2008 6:43 AM PDT

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Construction at Lockeford Elementary School has begun and in a little more than a year, students will be able to stay in town for middle school.

Lodi Unified School District hopes to have the Lockeford Elementary School expansion completed by the 2009-2010 school year. When the project is done, the district plans Lockeford Elementary can be converted to a second grade through eighth grade school.

Construction crews began work two weeks ago, said Art Hand, assistant superintendent of facility planning.

Funding for the project comes from Measure K passed by voters in 2002 and the California State School Building Program. The entire project is budgeted for $8.5 million.

Lockeford voters hoped by passing the bill, Lockeford Elementary could expand to a grades 2-8 school in a few years.

"A (second) through eighth grade provides that continuity of their peers," said Lodi Unified Board of Education trustee, Calvin Young. "During that time period of seventh and eighth grade, it can be a challenging period."

Since Lockeford School will see an increase of students after the construction is done, more teachers will be needed.

Project at a glance

Cost: $8.5 million

Funding: Measure K and the California State School Building Program

Phase one: Sewage and drains installed for new classrooms

Phase two: Rehabilitation of existing classrooms, main office expansion

Phase three: New classrooms, including science and art labs

Phase four: Conversion of the multipurpose room into a library and computer lab

Completion date: June 2009

Source: Art Hand, assistant superintendent of facility planning

However, Dawn Vetica, director of elementary education at Lodi Unified and former principal at Houston, said the decrease in students at Houston Middle will allow teachers to transfer.

Students currently attending Houston come from Lockeford and Victor Elementary schools. But the district will be looking into having students from Tokay Colony Elementary School go to Lockeford Elementary for middle school as well.

Tokay Colony students currently go to Morada Middle School for seventh and eighth grade.

"Bringing in Tokay Colony students is certainly an option," Vetica said. "That would easily be done."

The new buildings will have four regular classrooms, a science laboratory, an art lab, a multi-purpose room, and a dedicated area for indoor physical education, Hand said.

"It's a major addition," Hand said. "Really it's all about housing all those kids."

There are still three more construction phases including rehabilitating exhausting classrooms, expanding the office, and turning the current cafeteria into a library and computer lab, Hand said.

But for now, the focus of the development project remains on the students and saving money for transportation.

"It's a safer feeling, they know the school, they know the campus," Vetica said. "(And) for the cost of fuel, it will certainly be nice not to have to bus them.

Kathy Miller, who lives just south of Lockeford and has grandchildren at Tokay Colony agrees. She hopes with the school's expansion, students will be able to experience a more personalized learning environment.

"For one thing the school is smaller," Miller said. "They'll have more one on one and more individual attention."

Contact Natalie Flynn at natalief@lodinews.com.

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