Pictured, from left, are Ralph Nelson, Bob Vincelette, Superintendent Rod Van Norman, Olaf Landsgaard, district project manager Jim Johnson and construction superintendent Mike Webb of Webb Bros. Construction.
Mojave Desert News - Ground broken for Rosamond school
ROSAMOND - A groundbreaking ceremony here last week marked the beginning of construction of the long awaited Westpark elementary school across the street from the housing tract where many of its future students live. The site is on Imperial Avenue and 35th Street West.
School and community officials, parents and construction personnel were on hand to celebrate the occasion as trustees for Southern Unified School District turned the first shovels full of dirt.
District Superintendent Rodney Van Norman addressed the gathering and said, "After years of tireless hard work by board members, both past and present, parents, staff and the community of Rosamond, we are excited to begin construction of a new school." This is the first new school to be built in the community that serves more than 6000 students in nearly 30 years. Many of the community's elementary school students are housed in portable classrooms at two schools - Rosamond Elementary and Hamilton Elementary.
The new $7.6 million school is being built with funds from a $12 million school bond passed by voters and state matching funds of 82 percent. "The bond was the first step to get where we are today," said board member Bob Vincelette. The district will also receive additional money from the state for modernization projects that are underway on other district campuses.
SKUSD received an added bonus recently when they learned the winning bid on the contract to build the school was $1.2 million under the amount budgeted. Webb Bros. Construction, a Lancaster firm, has two projects simultaneously under construction in the community - Westpark school and the new Rosamond Community Services District administration, and maintenance and operations facilities on the opposite side of Rosamond Boulevard on 35th Street West near the town's library.
Mike Webb, one of three brothers working on the two Rosamond
projects said, "This is a great community and we are very happy to be here."
Van Norman said Webb Bros. Construction firm is a "no nonsense well-oiled
machine." When construction is completed in 14 to 16 months, about 600
students will occupy the 25 new classrooms. The campus will also have a
cafetorium with a stage, a full kitchen, library, resource center
and administrative offices. Van Norman said recently that the savings on
construction will allow for landscaping, furniture and books for the library.
An oversight committee is charged with tracking how bond money used
to build the school and other projects is spent. Several committee members
attended the groundbreaking as did former board member Dennis Youngblood.
NEW SCHOOL -Members of Southern Kern Unified School District donned hard hats to turn dirt at the site of the first new school to built in Rosamond since 1964. The school is on Imperial Avenue off 35th Street West across from the Westpark development.
Pictured, from left, are Ralph Nelson, Bob Vincelette, Superintendent
Rod Van Norman, Olaf Landsgaard, district project manager Jim Johnson
and construction superintendent Mike Webb of Webb Bros. Construction.
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