Tracy Press

The economy’s loss is Tracy High’s gain.

Thank the economy for something.

If Tracy’s school board votes for this Tuesday, 10 old buildings on Tracy High’s campus will be demolished instead of reconstructed, and two new ones will be built.

It’s an idea that might never have been considered if the bidding climate for new construction hadn’t been so positive.

A drawing of the Tracy High campus shows the two new buildings (the two dark ones in the middle) that would be built under the architect’s proposal. Courtesy of Rainforth-Grau Architects

But fast-forward to January 2008, when the state building code was changed to require more extensive and expensive upgrading of existing buildings. Meanwhile, erosion in the economy flattened the building industry, bringing construction bids way down.

Under the proposal, five classroom buildings would be demolished, as would the administration wing, library, cafeteria, social science building and music building. Two new, larger buildings would take their place — a single-story building housing the cafeteria and music and culinary art facilities, and a two-story building for classrooms and library. The administrative offices could be moved to the two-story building that’s under construction now, which replaces the West Building.

So far, the Measure E Bond Citizens Oversight Committee members seem to favor the proposal, and we, too, believe the opportunity to replace the older buildings, instead of reconstructing them, is in line with the wishes of voters who backed the Measure E bonds in 2006. We hope the Tracy Unified School District trustees will vote for it and that by 2011, the economy will have recovered, and Tracy High will have some new state-of-the-art buildings.

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written by Fed up , April 21, 2008

Why not put the administrative offices in an older building and keep the new buildings for student classrooms.

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written by B-dub , April 22, 2008

Great news! Glad to hear that somebody is thinking. With the economy being down, prices of materials plus contractual costs are within reach of adding new facilities instead of renovating the old. If the economy happens to drop even more, perhaps a building strictly for school administration won't be far off. It's about time Tracy High School is taking a front seat instead of always being in the back.