PITTSBURG -- After years of planning and fundraising, a new Pittsburg High School will open Wednesday, replacing a 53-year-old facility jammed with 2,400 students.
The Pittsburg school district raised half the $60 million cost of building the campus with a 2006 bond issue, with the other half coming from the state matching funds.
"We've broken the stereotype that our parents don't support education," school board President Vince Ferrante said. "Our students deserve the best."
The new school, built next to the old facility on School Street, is equipped to teach the latest job skills, and has a capacity of 3,000 students to accommodate enrollment growth, Ferrante said.
The old building was "decades over its life expectancy," he said. "We're trying to prepare for the future."
Four computer labs are set up to teach computer graphics, audio and video production, digital photography, computer-assisted design and robotics.
Laboratory science will get a boost with 12 science labs compared with two in the old building.
A new auto shop has three vehicle lifts and high-powered car exhaust fans.
There is a new 2,500-seat gymnasium with new scoreboards donated by the electrical workers' union.
The building incorporates green elements, including dual-pane windows, waterless urinals, motion-controlled lighting systems, and skylights.
Designers kept some elements of the old school, including girls and boys gyms, the 2,000-seat campus theater and the 5,000-seat football stadium.
The district is spending $7 million on remodeling the Creative Arts Building that houses the theater, including spiffing up the lobby and replacing the lighting, sound, heating and air conditioning systems, Ferrante said.
The exterior of the boys locker room will be familiar, but not the interior, which has been remodeled, with new showers, lockers and teachers and coaches offices.
The new school will be a closed campus, meaning that students will stay on site the entire day, including lunch, said Principal Todd Whitmire.
The policy will help teachers and administrators control tardiness and truancy, he said.
The main courtyard, easily large enough to accommodate the student body, will feature 15 food-service stations to supplement food in the cafeteria.
"We're planting 32 trees in raised planters in the courtyard to protect the landscaping and make it easy to maintain," said Jon Novero, a construction manager for Concord-based RGM and Associates.
The new school will create excitement and motivate more kids to graduate, said Eddie Hart, a 1967 graduate and Olympic track champion, who runs a foundation for youth based in Bay Point.
"Pittsburg Unified has had a bad rap in the past, and some of it was due to the high school being old," Hart said. "This is a place where kids will want to go to school on a long-term basis."
Los Medanos College President Pete Garcia said the new high school represents a commitment to give the entire spectrum of California residents a first-class education.
"This is a high school with no ethnic majority," said Garcia, a 1970 graduate. "We have immigrant families along with second and third generations. It's an important endeavor."
Garcia said he agrees with Hart that the new building will boost student enthusiasm.
"That building is gorgeous," he said. "There's something about aesthetics that makes a difference to the whole academic experience."
Contact Rick Radin at 779-7166.
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Marc Fox
Assistant City Manager – Internal Services
City of Pittsburg
Office: (925) 252-4876
Facsimile: (925) 252-4138
Email: mfox@ci.pittsburg.ca.us
