Schools
GUSD Approves Upgrades to Wrestling Facility at Gilroy High
The school board approved Measure P funding for several renovations for Gilroy High and other district schools.
In front of a packed room Thursday night, the Gilroy Unified School District board voted unanimously to approve capital bond funds to renovate the wrestling gym at Gilroy High School. The wrestling gym will also make room for a mixed-use sports facility that will house a practice area for cheer and gymnastics.
The large crowd burst into cheers after the board approved nearly $20 million in Measure P bond funds. The funds will go toward schools that the district’s facilities subcommittee identified in the second phase of facilities upgrades. Of that figure, over $11 million will be pumped into upgrades at Gilroy High.
Measure P, approved by voters in 2008, uses bond funds for capital projects on school campuses that have aging infrastructure. Gilroy High’s wrestling gym, along with a slew of other projects, were reviewed and made priorities for the second phase of upgrades during the board’s January 19 study session.
In addition to the funding, the district has been awarded over $660,000 in school modernization-eligibility funding from the state.
Other second-round projects include facility upgrades at South Valley and Brownell middle schools, Glen View and El Roble elementary schools and the installation of new fire alarms at Mount Madonna Continuation High School.
Several meeting attendees, comprised mostly of Gilroy High wrestling students, coaches and parents, held signs that read, “Thank you Gilroy Unified” and “Gilroy thanks you.”
Gilroy resident Matt Corona thanked the board for adding the wrestling gym to the priority list, and said it will help make a positive difference in the lives of Gilroy High students.
“I want to thank you for recognizing the strong tradition of wrestling in the Gilroy High community,” Corona said. “Hopefully you will make your mark in this world by the difference you make in the lives of the young faces in the crowd here tonight.”
In order to determine which facility upgrades to prioritize, district staff toured each campus and reported back to the facilities subcommittee. Gilroy Unified School District Vice President Jaime Rosso was satisfied to see the project move forward after several months of planning and discussion.
“I am very pleased to see all the effort that went into this, and I want to thank all the parents and students for their support,” he said.
Other projects for Gilroy High include upgrades to classroom ceilings and flooring, new paint to the building’s exterior, renovations to the school theater and the remodeling of the campus tennis courts.
Upgrades to the campus tennis courts were added to the project budget with a price tag of $120,000, with exactly half coming from an anonymous donation from a member of the Gilroy community.
The board also approved the hiring of the San Luis Obispo-based firm PMSM Architects to execute the upgrades at Gilroy High. The firm is one of five district construction firms that were selected out of over 40 firms that applied.
In other news, Eliot Elementary School Principal Kathleen Taylor was awarded the Title 1 Academic Achievement Award by the district for contributing to its steady rise in state Academic Performance Index scores over the past two years. The elementary school has scored over 800 points in the past two school years.
