PITTSBURG -- The school district is seeking bids for design and construction of a third junior high school it wants to build to relieve overcrowding at its other two.
The project is the first of a series to be funded by a $100 million bond issue passed in November.
The $28 million school will be built at 950 El Pueblo Ave., the site of a former elementary school that is now a preschool.
"The reason we want to build a new junior high is to downsize the other two," said Enrique Palacios, associate superintendent for business services. "We want the schools to have about 800 students, and the existing schools have about 1,100 each."
The district was initially weighing a land swap with the city to build the school at City Park on Railroad Avenue but decided to go with one already approved for school use to save money on an environmental analysis, Palacios said. "We already know what's in the ground on our property," he said.
The district will demolish the old buildings that face El Pueblo Avenue and build the new school in the same spot.
It plans artificial turf athletic fields on the south end of the site bordering California Avenue and wants to negotiate a joint-use agreement with the city so that the fields can be used by sports teams and leagues after school hours.
The 138 preschool students at the Martin Luther King Children Center in the old elementary school will be dispersed among the district's eight elementary schools, Palacios said.
"This gave us the opportunity to look at preschool education in a different light, do it with more of a neighborhood feel," he said.
Next up after the junior high will be new campuses for Heights Elementary, at 163 West Blvd., and Parkside Elementary, at 985 W. 17th St.
After that, the district will renovate Foothill Elementary and do repairs, such as replacing roofs and windows, at its other five elementary schools.
The district will break ground June 23 on a $12 million continuation school that is being funded with a 2006 bond issue.
The continuation school will be adjacent to the district's adult education facility at Loveridge Road and Stoneman Avenue.
The district is hoping to open the junior high and the continuation school in fall 2012.
At its June 8 meeting, the school board will consider three to five names for the continuation school from a list contributed by the public, according to Superintendent Linda Rondeau.