MJUSD building bonanza

Once the way in to War Memorial Stadium was muddy when it rained — but new concrete ramps changed that.

The work where Marysville High School's football teams play mean easier access to the stadium for people in wheelchairs attending games.

"They love what we did," said Markle, a Marysville Joint Unified School District trustee, of community reaction to the stadium improvements that included a new scoreboard and sound system .

The $1.2 million project is one of scores completed or planned by the school district. New gyms are being built at McKenney and Yuba Gardens intermediate schools. Lindhurst and Marysville high schools will have new, two-story science buildings. Shade structures were added at Linda Elementary.

Edgewater Elementary, the first new school for Marysville Joint Unified in 35 years, opened in August with root beer "Edgewater Floats" and residents happy to have the new school honking car horns.

"We've never had this," school district trustee Jim Flurry said of the more than $150 million in projects that began in 2006. "We never had the money."

For many years, said Markle, "we were just taking care of what had to be taken care of."

That changed with voter approval of two separate school bonds, the first in 2006 and another last year. Along with developer fees and state funds Marysville Joint Unified has the money for long-delayed projects.

"I give Mark Allgire the credit," Flurry said of the assistant superintendent for business. "He put together a plan on a bond."

Along with the gym, a new library will be built for Yuba Gardens — and can be used by the community as well as students.

Yuba County Supervisor Mary Jane Griego praises the partnership making that possible.

"It's better to work together," Griego said of the school district and county, "and give more services and opportunities to the residents than to try be these individual islands."

"This is the best way we can maximize tax dollars," she added. "Schools should not just be used from 8 o'clock to 3 o'clock."

School classrooms, said Bryan Williams, technology director for Marysville Joint Unified, are benefiting from all the building because new equipment such as SMART Boards — electronic, interactive whiteboards — can be accommodated.

"We're designing rooms with technology in mind," Williams said. "It's the first time we're not trying to retrofit rooms."

School district Trustee Bernie Rechs has been impressed by the deadlines met.

He was at Edgewater Elementary during the summer when work continued on the new school.

"I said, They're never going to get this done — and it opened," Rechs recalled.

New gyms expected to open early next year at McKenney and Yuba Gardens will mean an end to trying mix use of multi-purpose rooms for P.E. classes as well as lunch on rainy days, Markle said. And there will be gyms with stands to accommodate spectators, she said.

Trustee Sandy Fonley, who has been critical of the no-bid, lease leaseback method of contracting for much of the work, is nonetheless pleased with the projects.

"It's gorgeous," Fonley said of the War Memorial Stadium after improvements there.

The other many efforts are overdue, she added.

"Our schools looked terrible," Fonley said of their status before the projects began.

Voter passage of the bonds to help pay for the work surprised her, since such efforts by the Yuba City Unified School District had failed.

But the timing in 2006 before the economic downturn was right to win approval in Marysville Joint Unified, she said, and last year's bond measure passed as well.

"When you pass one bond the smart thing politically is to get another bond to dovetail it right away," Fonley said.

Flurry said voters were pleased with what they'd seen in the way of projects after the 2006 ballot measure and were prepared to back another bond.

Students notice the improvements, said Fonley, recalling as a youth in Omaha, Neb., in the 1960s going from a dilapidated grade school to a new middle school.

"I remember the oohs and aahs," she said of reaction to the new site. "They had great big windows and the light came in."

"I remember the feeling of being in a brand new school," Fonley said.

All the improvements at Marysville Joint Unified, trustee Markle said, have proved a morale booster for students and staff.

Michael Schlussler, president of the Marysville Unified Teachers Association, is among instructors at the new Edgewater School.

"I'm excited about being there," Schlussler said.

Cedar Lane Elementary in Linda, where he had worked, underwent improvements that have transformed that site as well.

"It's like being in a new building," he said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com.