Plans for new California City high school and elementary schools near completion
District hopes to send plans to Sacramento in August
BY BILL DEAVER, Mojave Desert News
CALIFORNIA CITY - Plans for new schools in California City are nearing completion, Mojave Unified School District Superintendent Larry Phelps said this week.
School officials met Wednesday with architects to review interior designs for the high school. "We hope to move forward from there to working drawings," Phelps said.
Phase one of environmental studies for the high school are close to completion, Phelps added.
District officials expect to receive a presentation by the end of March on the design for the new elementary school, which will be built adjacent to California City Middle School.
The district hopes to be able to submit plans for both schools to state architects in August.
Modernization
Phelps said the district is working with a representative of the Office of Public School Construction in an effort to ensure that the district receives the most it can from state bond funds to upgrade schools.
Due to the age of schools in Mojave, the bulk of the modernization funding will be spent there.
"We would like to get things going at the high school and elementary school as soon as possible and get our drawings into the state for modernization money, which seems to be going faster than construction money," Phelps said.
Counting critters
Phelps said the state Department of Fish and Game has doubled its requirements for counting wildlife on the site for environmental studies, which will increase project costs. Requirements that the district pay prevailing wages will also hike the cost of building the new schools, Phelps said.
A letter has been sent to parents in California City that the school board has approved conceptual plans for the new schools in the city along with other information, the superintendent said.
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