The trustees allocated $5.2 million for the next phase of the rebuild process at Vaughn. That money will go towards finishing the design of the new campus, readying construction documents, getting appropriate permits, and putting the project out to bid.
The trustees also got to see birds-eye renderings for the new campus. The video presentation detailed plans to complete a campus flip. The new building will be constructed where the school’s fields are while students still learn in the existing building. Other highlights include a bus pick-up and drop-off lane inside the school perimeter, a community room with a separate entrance, and a space set aside for large elective classes like band.
For trustee Colleen Westlake the school rebuild caused mixed emotions.
“This is super exciting for me. I attended Vaughn and I was a little bit, you know, it’s hard to have something that has such fond memories see it changed,” she said. “But this does so much justice to that neighborhood.”
The trustees originally approved the Vaughn project in December 2022 after the school received the worst marks in an initial study of district facilities. The project is the first one to move forward from the ongoing facilities modernization plan. Built in 1956, Vaughn is the oldest standard middle school in the district.
Today, students and teachers have to deal with loud HVAC systems, classrooms under the basketball court, and missing ceiling tiles.
Jose Davila IV is a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project.
