EUREKA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 2019 FACILITIES MASTER PLAN Lead, Inspire, Achieve The school facility is much more than a passive container of the educational process; it is, rather, an integral component of the conditions of learning. Lawrence O. Picus, Richard T. and Mary Catherine Cooper Chair in Public School Administration at the USC Rossier School of Education “ + + EUREKA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 2019 FACILITIES MASTER PLAN i This page is intentionally left blank. Board of Trustees EUREKA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT Andy Sheehy, President 5455 Eureka Road, Granite Bay, CA 95746 Renee Nash, Clerk Jeffrey Conklin, Trustee 916.791.4939 | eurekausd.org Ryan Jones, Trustee Melissa F. MacDonald, Ph.D., Trustee Superintendent Tom Janis This page is intentionally left blank. TABLE OF CONTENTS Superintendent’s Message ................................................................. 1 District-Wide Facilities Master Plan 1 | Introduction .................................................................................. 5 Why Does Eureka Union School District Need a Facilities Master Plan? A. Why Now? B. How? C. Taking Eureka Union SD to the Next Level 2 | History of Eureka Union School District ..................................... 13 A. How it All Began B. History of Partnerships 3 | Key Steps in the Creation of the Facilities Master Plan ............. 21 A. Comprehensive Demographic Studies & Enrollement Projections B. Facility Needs Assessment C. Number of Students Does Not Tell the Whole Story D. Current Makeup of the District E. Vision & Pathways 4 | Goals & Funding Priorities .......................................................... 29 A. Current Programs Supporting Vision & Pathways Plus Facility Needs To Maintain & Grow Critical Academic Programs B. Overview of District’s Needs & Options + EUREKA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 2019 FACILITIES MASTER PLAN 5 | Priority Areas for Repair, Upgrade, Modernization & Construction ..................................................................................... 35 A. Infrastructure Upgrades B. School Site Safety C. Technology Infrastructure Upgrades D. Sustainability & Energy Efficiency E. The Future of the Classroom F. Serving Students Beyond the Classroom G. Sports Fields, Performing Arts Centers & The Community 6 | Overview of Eureka Union SD’s Schools & Specific Needs ........ 63 The District At A Glance Cavitt Junior High School Eureka Union Elementary School Excelsior School Greenhills Elementary School Maidu Elementary School Oakhills Elementary School Olive Ranch Elementary School Olympus Junior High School Ridgeview Elementary School District Office Maintenance & Transportation Facility 7 | Paying for the Facilities Master Plan Projects ............................ 89 A. The State of Education Funding in California B. How Will the Projects in This Facilities Master Plan be Paid For? + EUREKA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 2019 FACILITIES MASTER PLAN As the District’s “new” schools – Oakhills Elementary SUPERINTENDENT’S MESSAGE (serving grades TK-3), Ridgeview Elementary (serving grades 4-6), Olympus Jr. High (serving grades 7-8), Maidu Elementary (serving grades 4-6) and Excelsior Elementary DISTRICT-WIDE FACILITIES MASTER PLAN (serving grades 4-6) – are beginning to hit middle age, and When I first joined the staff of Eureka Union School District in 2013 as the Director of our older schools – Cavitt Jr. High (serving grades 7-8) and Human Resources, I knew I had joined an amazing team of educators, but I also recognized Greenhills Elementary (serving grades TK-3) – are looking immediately how much the local community has shaped and supported the District since its forward to collecting Social Security – the District needs inception, and continues to do so. to make a significant financial investment in our facilities. Failing to repair a school is no different than failing to fix Since I was appointed Superintendent in 2015, I have had the privilege and honor of working a leaky roof on a home. The leak will result in significant with our amazing staff, students and parents, but also importantly to work with the entire damage to the school and the longer we wait to repair it, the more expensive the repair community in leading the District into its next and logical phase. The academic excellence becomes. Eureka Union SD is no different than other government agencies like counties that has been the hallmark of the District continues to drive families to our community and, and cities that must ensure that their facilities – libraries, jails, courthouses, administrative despite Eureka’s well-below State average in per pupil funding, Eureka Union SD continues to buildings and fire departments – are up to code, large enough to serve the population and, in be a leader in student achievement in Northern California. the case of first responders, outfitted with the best equipment possible. Our culture of “out of the box” thinking has allowed Eureka Union SD to offer programs and The riches reportedly being poured into California’s public schools in the last few years are services that larger neighboring districts—with higher per-pupil funding—do not provide. We being distributed in ways that keep Eureka’s share far less than the statewide average. While are a district of “why not” rather than a district of “why?” Eureka Union SD is a magnet for we are indeed grateful for the “new money” the State is sending our way, we are still below students throughout the area who choose to leave their own home district to attend Eureka the amounts we received prior to the Great Recession. When inflation is taken into account, Union SD. Far from harming Eureka Union SD, these inter-district transfer students bring State in addition to many rising costs that are not within our control—including energy, employee money with them and, even though our per-pupil funding is lower than most other districts pensions, insurance and an endless array of new, unfunded State mandates—we continue to in the State, that money is still sufficient to allow us to provide a greater scope of programs feel the pinch of being underfunded. and services than we would be able to offer if we had significantly fewer students. The costs of Special Education are rising much more rapidly than the reimbursements we Critical to understanding the needs and goals you will find in this FMP is a deep receive from State and Federal sources. While there was much excitement in the news about understanding and of the history of the District. While the rich history of Eureka Union SD increased funding for Special Education from the State this year, our District’s share is a mere goes as far back as the end of the American Civil War, as recently as early 1990s Eureka $12 per student. New State-mandated curriculum adoptions, with no corresponding money to Union SD was composed of only three schools: Eureka, Greenhills and Cavitt.The District’s purchase the textbooks or other materials needed for curriculum implementation—including 4th school, Oakhills – which still seems in many ways like the baby of the family – was professional development—are just some of the other pressures being placed on the District to dedicated in 1990. Ridgeview was dedicated the following year, followed rapidly by find a way to continue to offer academic excellence in a truly global, 21st Century setting that Olympus in 1996, Maidu in 1997 and Excelsior, the true the baby in the family, in 1999. is student-centric and relevant to the new realities of our global economy. Improved programs Understanding the rich history of this District and how it has set priorities over the years is for student mental health and the need to upgrade school site security in an age of senseless helpful in understanding the direction we are trying to go. Thus, you will find a section in school shootings have added to the financial needs of the District. this document that provides an overview of the District’s history, including key inflection points such as the one we now find ourselves in. The longer we wait to repair our schools, the more expensive it will become. The longer we wait to implement new and more relevant, challenging curriculum, the more our students are harmed. + EUREKA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 2019 FACILITIES MASTER PLAN 1 Eureka Union SD has been evaluating, prioritizing and executing repairs and upgrades based What visitors also fail to see is the grand possibilities for a whole new way of learning and on safety, the availability of grant money or matching dollars and based on the age and teaching, the type of programs our students of today and tomorrow must have to be truly needs of each school site for over five years.With Board of Trustee’s creation of a Facilities competitive when they reach high school, college and career. Subcommittee and its engagement of Project CM to provide a much needed overhaul of the way the District’s limited maintenance staff and funding, we have improved the way the It is also critical to point out that the schools do not belong solely to the Eureka Union School District handles requests for repairs has streamlined the process. This new process allows us District, its students, staff and parents. These are community-owned facilities, paid for by tax to be more responsive to concerns raised by staff at different school sites. It has also been dollars. Local schools have always played a role in serving the entire community, from local Boy instrumental in creating this FMP. Our team has walked every inch of every campus and Scout troop meetings after school to the use of gyms and other sports fields by local sports evaluated needs in all areas of each site. Many expensive components of public schools like leagues on the weekends and evenings. Our plan is to make repairs and improvements that will technology infrastructure, school site safety and indoor plumbing are things that did not even not only serve the students of today and tomorrow, but also critically to improve the value and exist in 1886 when the District’s first school, a one-room school house was constructed. utility for the public at large, including refurbished sports fields that can be used year round.