Cajon Park – New Building Open

The winds blew and rain fell, but nothing could dampen the excitement at Cajon Park School today.  At last the new building is open and students and teachers alike are taking part of the day to explore their new home.  I had an opportunity to scout it out on my own, and wanted to share some pictures of views you haven’t seen yet.  But first, a few details about the new building.  As you might notice in some of the pictures, all of the work is not yet complete.  There is still the landscaping to finish, as well as a few odds and ends inside.  However, enough work is done for the classes to move in – a week before originally scheduled, I might add.  Also, the last I heard the job was at or slightly under budget.  Having been involved in construction projects before, that is big to be under budget and early.  Years ago I was teaching at a school that was in the process of rebuilding – that project ended up going several months beyond when it was scheduled to be finished, opening up just the week before school started.  So I have to give a tip of the hat to Barnhart, Inc. for the great work done.

The main entrance to the new building

Interior View – Upstairs

Ramp to the Main Campus

The Front of the Building from the Parking Lot

Some Last-Minute Work

View from the Second Floor

There will be an official ribbon cutting ceremony in the spring when work has been completed on the upgrades to the Library/Media center and the last of the current buildings.  This will probably be one of the last updates on the Cajon Park Construction until then.

Cajon Park – Almost Ready

The new building at Cajon Park is almost ready for students.  This week the students brought all of their class books home, and over the weekend the teachers will be moving their classroom “stuff” over.  This will nearly complete the first major phase of construction at Cajon Park and the Santee School District.  The series of projects was funded by a proposition (Prop R from November, 2006), with the official groundbreaking ceremony last April (click here for my earlier post).  At Cajon Park, this included refurbishing and modernizing existing classrooms and constructing a new 18-classroom building for grades 5-8.

Having taught in the district many years ago, as well as at other schools around the county, I know how much the junior high teachers are looking forward to having dedicated classrooms.  This goes double for Cajon Park, where the 7th and 8th grade classes have been in portable classrooms for years (I’ve taught in those, also).  Over the next few months they will be completing work on the upgrade of one last existing classroom building and the Library/Media Center.  A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for sometime in the spring.

You can find information on the modernization at the Santee School District Modernization website.

Check out the most recent photo in the series on the Cajon Park Construction page.

Updated Photos – Cajon Park Construction

I have updated the Cajon Park Construction Photo Page.  Work has been moving along quickly and the exterior is complete.  There is some landscaping and interior work to finish up, but it looks like all will be done in time for classes to move in during the second week of December.  I am hoping to be able to be there for the big event, and of course there will be more pictures.  Feel free to comment on the photos.