November 2002

November 1, 2002

Olivelands replacement campus construction to begin

School to begin construction after four years of planning

Briggs Elementary School District broke ground today on the long-anticipated Olivelands Replacement Campus.

The original Olivelands School, which dates nearly 80 years, was structurally condemned. Students are currently educated out of portable classrooms and food service is brought into the school each day as the kitchen is no longer usable.

The new replacement school will be constructed of wood frame and stucco and feature nearly 12,000 square feet of classrooms, administration areas, library, media center, and kitchen and food service areas. District official have been planning four years on the replacement campus, and worked with two architects to develop the school with a construction cost of $2.7 million. Officials hope to raise funds to provide the school with turf area and other landscaped features. An August 2003 completion goal has been set for the school, which educates students in grades K-3. Upon completion of the replacement campus, the original school, built by the agricultural Limoneira Company decades ago to educate farmworker's children will be demolished.

The school was designed by PSWC Architects and the general contractor is Barnhart, Inc.

The Briggs Elementary School District oversees the education of 460 students in the agricultural community of Santa Paula. The project is being overseen by Superintendent Carol Vines, Business Manager Tamera McCracken, Olivelands Principal Dr. Donna Ronzone, and Bond Measure Campaign Chair Laura Galvan.

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