Construction begins on first student union at STHS
By Kathryn Reed
Five years ago when Ivone Larson became principal of South Tahoe High School her dream was to get rid of the building in the middle of campus that originally housed the auto and wood shops.
That wish came true this summer. And an even bigger dream was realized Monday with the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Student Union. The nearly 20,000-square-foot L shaped building should be ready for students for the 2012-13 school year.
A year from now a student union will cover the dirt at South Tahoe High School. Photo/LTN
No one was particularly fond of the structure.
“The shop building was the biggest piece of crap on this campus,” architect Steve Newsom said.
He added the new building will “reinforce the pedestrian traffic spine here. Ultimately, it would be great if that were a covered walk.”
The structure is a joint endeavor between Lake Tahoe Unified and South Lake Tahoe because of the grant from the state to fund the building that is situated behind the gym and in front of the Stadium View building.
The city will have access to meeting room space, which is something the town lacks. The three rooms may be opened into one.
In 2008 when voters passed Measure G, the school facilities bond, the budget called for $3.5 million to renovate the building. Then the prospect of the joint use grant from the state surfaced and was applied for. That brought in $4 million in matching funds.
Now the budget for the Student Union is $9.5 million. This is a rendering of the Student Union.
“This will pull people together,” Superintendent Jim Tarwater said July 25 during the festivities.
This will be the first time there will be room to feed all the students. Plus, it gives them a gathering spot instead of being dispersed throughout the campus.
Tarwater said the student culinary arts program would be able to provide breakfast and lunch fare for meetings and events, with the district’s food services backing up the students.
Nothing of the old building remains. It’s a dirt plot waiting for a foundation. About 75 percent of the structure was able to be recycled at South Tahoe Refuse.
This will be the final entirely new building to be erected at South Tahoe High.
The sports medicine facility will be an 8,000-square-foot addition to the gym. Plans for it are headed to state agencies next week for approval.
In addition to the ground breaking, city and school district officials also toured the Theater Arts and Design Academy that will open next month at the start of the 2011-12 school year.
Expect the first performance in the new theater this winter – probably in December.
9.5 million for a high school STUDENT UNION? And we don’t have money for BOOKS? I’m sorry, but the priorities the district has for MY damn tax dollars is MESSED. UP.
I think the new center of education for our youth is something to be proud of. This new building will be open for community meetings and gatherings too, its not just for high school students.
It may seem distorted to fund this during a time when there are so many budget issues, but the funds come from sources other than those that can buy books and pay salaries.
Hopefully this great addition to our community will bring in families that want to live here and educate their children here. Now we just need to advertise this……like in “The Field of Dreams” ..if you build it, they will come!
3oyrlocal, I like your positive attitude and the fact that you have some knowledge on where this money is actually coming from. No, that money cannot be used to buy books, pay for salaries, etc. Dogwoman not only is lacking information but usually seems to want to only see the negatives…what a shame since this is such a great thing for our community.
And they are teaching them to be in UNIONS!
To the conservation robot: No, the students are not joining “unions”. A “student union” is a central location for all to meet, eat, hang out, etc. Kind of a glorified cafeteria/meeting room. Think of it like a town square but on a school campus. Hope that makes sense.
My apologies for inadequately indicating sarcasm with a snark mark ‘.~’.
I encourage dogwoman and anyone else who would like to know more about the Measure G Bond to visit the School District’s web site http://www.ltusd.org/bond.php. You will find answers to many of your question there. As for not having money for books, the Board of Education approved the 2011/12 budget on June 28, 2011 and a review of the budget indicates that $1,454,079 is budgeted for “books and supplies”. Again, please go to http://ltusd.csbaagendaonline.net to find out how your tax dollars are being spent and the Board’s priorities or call me at 541-2850 ext. 225 and I’d be happy to help.
As a ‘Viking’ who is part of organizing our 50th graduation festivities for next year, I also testified to the City Council on the ‘doubling up’ of the footprint of a building there, in concert with their partnership with the City.
As that was a “better bang for the buck” issue, I am gratified that the administration had the fortitude to hang in there and expand the grant monies on behalf of the community, as my understanding is that other places were reluctant to apply (budget and/or matching fund issues), which may have put this district at the top of the list.
I am concerned about some of the directions though, as they appear to be in a position to encourage developed talent to head “for the big time” – in other words, out of town. . . not a good omen for local economic development.
Perhaps a follow-up story, with a reported ‘tour’ for someone other than “district and city” folks, is in order.
There us definitely another story here, but maybe it needs to be part of either a “soft” or Grand Opening later on. . .
Bogus interpretation of the word ,what’s right ,what’s wrong.
There’s a time when we as society need to take into account the meaning of education or wasted minds for future negotiation .
They spend way too much too impress us with the need of future leaders with more of anything that says some students will amount into anything other that what society provides and the needs of it’s donors ,Society needs to find need for their qualified needs(speciality) to our society.
Before californians and the county taxpayers find reason to doubt what times shown us all in the past with big debt to make kids smarter without computers and teach old fashion teachings of slide rule,math,English,arts,literature,that we refrain from more improvements to the dense parents that do nothing to improve their life style,habits, and history to pay a burden of more debt cash to improve their own children’s smarts,success, without public funds that are wasted on a few who actually have the abetted to be smarter than the average student,doomed to be, public service techs,mufflers welders, welfare people.
With so many changes in society and the money factor with all students that want a college ed need to forfeited ,sacrifice, real abutted of higher understanding with outside finance of people and classes of society to fortunate to their private needs to waste and borrow funds from both private ,state, federal, scholarships, to better qualified dedicated students that really quality as learners.
The national debt of college borrows is nothing short of fraud to repay the loans that we as a nation can’t afford ,dumb -hits being something other than what abutted want Be’s of wasted time both to loaners,parents, scholarship, charity, find better means and faired handling of monies set aside for qualified individuals.
No matter what parents want presume as Fair to a underachiever they too need to dedicated more personal income toward their own child’s well being let society reap rewards that are accountable to us the burdened providers that make sacrifice to achievers of of higher learning.
People who want masters, and doctors of any science and higher learning themselves make due the finance for their own spouses rewards to be responsible for financing,health care,shelter, to achieve such rewards of classes of job placement and income.
It’s not society responsibility to pay debt to any persons needs without debt due.
We are walking in the smoke of burned bridges with state, federal loans to students that did nothing other than blunder the chance at success.
You want a successful children starts at home and not dreams of BS that takes, and wastes real talent that are ignored because of society class structure.
The ball ,chain of debt we keep being asked to support become nothing more than a political football with many mistakes of fumbling the monies to red tape and agencies of time data consultants of lobbyist of waste.
yes a mind of waste is haste but what price do we as a society see fit to support and see improvements to the investments that more wasted dead ends.
HOPEFULLY THEY SYOP FEEDING US, THE STUDENTS, A BUNCH OF CRAP THAT MAKES US LEAVE CAMPUS A GO SPEND MONEY SOMEWHERE ELSE! IT WOULD BE SAD TO SEE THEM GIVING US MORE COLD PIZZA, BURRITO IN A BAG ETC.. IN SUCH A NICE BUILDING THEIR MAKING!