Following the Long Beach Unified School district’s master plan to update multiple facilities in July 2022, research from the facilities team prioritized two school sites in dire need of renovations.
Executive Director of Facilities Development and Planning David Miranda said that when developing the facilities master plan—a data-driven roadmap for facility enhancement and improvement—Long Beach Polytechnic High School and George Washington Middle School stood out as needing more renovations than other campuses.
The emphasis on the Poly High School and Washington Middle School sites will not affect the updated Measure E timeline.
“While it’s a large effort within that six-year stretch, it doesn’t preclude us from still embarking on additional improvements on schools that need these improvements as well in other parts of the district,” Miranda said.
Renovations planned for Poly High School
According to information presented at the board’s March 15 special meeting, the district hopes to start the Poly High School’s six-year-long project by late 2024. Renovations will cost around $400 million and will be funded through Measure Q funds–a bond measure approved by the district in July 2022 and passed by voters in the November 2022 elections.
For Poly High School’s master plan, the facilities team met with around 10 different focus groups consisting of folks from various district departments, sent out a survey and hosted a town hall open to students, teachers and community members.
“We wanted to hear feedback specifically from all the various stakeholders to tell us what’s working and perhaps what’s not working, and how things should be for Poly,” Miranda said.
Miranda said that some of the suggestions included allowing a space for band and drama that’s nearer to the auditorium and a centralized space for athletics.
The renovations at Poly high school will consist of two phases: the first would focus on modernization and interim housing and the second on athletic components. Interim housing refers to the introduction of portable units to the campus so students have a space to take classes while buildings are being renovated.
“We want to go about this effort while keeping students on site and not missing out on that Poly effort and engagement,” Miranda said.
Miranda explained that a few buildings and functions on the campuses like the softball field will be relocated from one particular end of the campus to the other to better coincide with athletics and share a large outfield space. There will also be a new gymnasium facility as well as an aquatics center and an additional classroom building.
Despite the modernization attempts, Miranda said the district and facilities team are aware of the historical and cultural importance of some of the buildings at Poly High School and plan to respect the architecture throughout the renovation process.
“Sometimes the buildings and the codes and so forth dictate what we can do or cannot do, but we’re definitely going to tread lightly and go carefully with respect to respecting those monuments on the campus,” Miranda said.
Some of the more recently renovated buildings on campus, like the auditorium and the synthetic turf track and field, will not be renovated since they are fairly new—both completed in 2018—and in good shape.
Renovations planned for Washington Middle School
According to Miranda, George Washington Middle School presented similar issues as Poly High School and required more than just the traditional Measure E modernization.
The Washington Middle School renovations will also begin in late 2024 but since it is a smaller campus, it will cost around $150 million and take about three years to complete. The plan would also involve interim housing offsite at Butler Middle School as construction is underway.
The lack of gathering spaces for lunch and outdoor activities are some target areas Miranda highlighted. Based on that need, the plan proposes to build a cafetorium—a cafeteria that also serves as an auditorium space for the school to gather. The school will also receive a new two-story classroom building as well as a new gym.
Miranda said that topography presents another major issue for the campus, which is why the team is suggesting building a field on top of a parking structure.
“The field on top of the parking structure actually helps us solve this density issue, find a home for parking space, but also solve that accessibility and topography issue on this particular site,” Miranda said.
Board member Juan Benitez said that although he acknowledges these efforts will have a great impact on the school and neighborhood, he worries that closing the school for construction will take away a community resource, as some local organizations use the campus for community-building events.
“This is a neighborhood in a school community that has expressed for years now feeling neglected, not just from our school district but from the city,” Benitez said. “I think this is an opportunity for us to do as much as we can with the city, with community partners, and with those residents, to make sure that part of the community doesn’t just go dark.”
Miranda said that the facilities team has already started conversations with the site’s principal to reach out to neighborhood groups and start an early discussion regarding that issue.
“That’s one particular project where I will kind of raise my hand and white flag and say I’m going to need help,” Miranda said.
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