The Manteca Unified School District’s Adult School will soon have its own spanking new Toilet Room Building which will be constructed to the tune of $365,000.

The total construction amount is actually $287,950. The higher figure includes the $48,000 contingency fund, which is normal for any building project to cover unforeseen expenses while construction is under way, plus the following related costs: $20,500 for planning, inspection at $5,700, and testing at $2,850.

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the resolution between the school district and C.T. Brayton & Sons of Escalon which is the company that has been approved to complete the project. The vote was 6-0 with board president Evelyn Moore absent.

The toilet building will be constructed in the vacant space between the old Manteca Unified administration building, and the portables which currently make up the Adult School facility. Both edifices are located along West Louise Avenue. Half of the old administration building is now being leased out to a credit union. The other half of it is being used as offices for the district’s Nutritional Services which is also under renovation. It is being renovated for the future use of the district’s brand-new Manteca Unified Vocational Academy, or MUVA, which opened this school year by offering a Culinary Arts program.

MUVA, the district’s first vocational academy and is not funded by general funds but by ADA (average daily attendance) like any public school, is set to move in to its new quarters by November. In the meantime, the vocational culinary classes and kitchen are temporarily using spaces on the third floor of the district’s administration structure. MUVA is under the jurisdiction of the Manteca Adult School.

The Toilet Room Building is expected to be ready around the same time. The general fund is the funding source for the toilet construction project, according to the report and contract agreement approved by the school board Tuesday night.

“The estimated construction price of $287,950.00 is deemed as a favorable construction cost for the Manteca Unified School District Adult School Toilet Room Building Project,” reads in part the resolution which awards the contract to C.T. Brayton & Sons.

Currently, Manteca Adult School staff and students are using the bathroom facilities in the new district administration building offices. Staff and students have to walk across part of the parking lot of the district facility in order to use the bathrooms in the three-story building.

The Manteca Adult School program, headed by principal Diane Medeiros, moved out of the old Lindbergh School on East North Street last year due, in large part, to budgetary constraints. Many adult classrooms were discontinued as a result. Some of the classes, such as the ROP programs for high school students, were relocated to other campuses in the school district such as Lathrop High and Sierra High.

Despite the budget problems, Manteca Adult School continues to offer a wide variety of classes for adults in the community including GED certificates or the equivalent of a high school diploma, English as a Second Language, medical terminology and other certificated classroom and training programs. The only class still being held at the old Manteca Adult School is the automotive program for high school students conducted in one of the portable buildings in the parking lot off of Sutter Street.

The Lindbergh building also was vacated because it was deemed seismically unsafe.