As enrollment continues to grow at Cold Spring School in Montecito, and with a bond measure having failed in the last election, parents and school staff have launched a campaign to raise funds for a new building with two permanent classrooms.
According to the Building Bright Futures Committee, in partnership with the Cold Spring Foundation, the classroom expansion project will be built in two phases, beginning with a $1.6 million first phase that will consist of the two classrooms, restrooms and water fountains.
The second phase will focus on safety, removing aged portable buildings and moving the administration office to the front of the campus at 2243 Sycamore Canyon Road, as well as adding a third classroom.
“Right now, our immediate need is classrooms as we grow,” said Principal Amy Alzina, who also serves as Cold Spring School District superintendent.
The portable classrooms currently house the second-grade class and an art class.
Additionally, the auditorium hosts the music class and school board meetings, and the school’s library contains a special education class.
“We need the space for the kids,” said Melissa McCann, a parent and chairwoman of the Building Bright Futures Committee. “We’re doing it for the kids.”
Once the first phase of the expansion project is finished, the new, cross-curricular building will hold art and STEAM classes, allowing for other classes to be shuffled around to the proper classrooms.
The original plan for funding the project was a bond measure on the November 2020 election ballot. Measure L2020 would have provided $7.8 million to the single-school district, costing property owners within the district’s boundaries about $13 per $100,000 of assessed valuation.
In order to pass, the measure needed the approval of 55% of voters, but only 52.2% supported it.
With the total cost of Phase One pegged at about $1.6 million, the district is allocating $1 million from its facilities reserve to the project and the Building Bright Futures Committee is fundraising for the remaining $600,000.
To kick off its campaign, the committee held a “Merry and Bright” benefit on Dec. 3, and quickly raised $100,000.
McCann said she’d like to hold more events to raise funds and “educate the community of the importance of this.”
Phase Two will require the approval of a future bond measure in order to fund the construction of a third classroom and to implement safety measures.
“The whole community is very excited for this project,” said Yuri Calderon, the district’s chief business officer and general counsel. “This campus is really the hub of the community.”
With the school’s open campus, community members are able to use the property on weekends to walk their dogs or for sports practices.
The campus, across the street from the Montecito Fire Protection District’s Station 2 and down the hill from Westmont College, has also acted as a fire relief center in the past.
“Through every challenge, our community has come together for our kids,” Alzina said, referring to the 2017 Thomas Fire, the deadly 2018 Montecito flash flooding and debris flows, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new classroom building, which is being designed by 19six Architects, will utilize retractable, sliding barn doors, allowing the two classrooms to easily be able to interact with each other and be more flexible.
“It doesn’t have to be the traditional desk after desk classroom,” McCann said, adding that it will make the building more sustainable, eco-friendly and economical.
Construction for the first phase is expected to begin in January or February, with completion by the end of 2022. McCann said the committee’s goal is to have the $600,000 raised by June 1.
“This building is way more sustainable because it will last generations,” she said. “It will benefit hundreds of families rather than for just one year.”
Click here for more information about the project.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.