The Manteca High School cafeteria is undergoing modernization.

“We’re doing the same type of work (at MHS) as that of the East Union High cafeteria of a few years ago,” Superintendent Jason Messer said at the Manteca Unified school board meeting on Tuesday.

The project is being conducted via lease-leaseback, which, under the state education code, allows for school districts to use a contractor – in this case, C.T. Brayton & Sons – to lease the area specifically for the already prepared and approved project.

Messer indicated that C.T. Brayton & Sons usually handles many of the MUSD modernization plans under these lease-leaseback contracts while F&H Construction has the capital to do the much bigger projects.

“Under the old system, (lease-leaseback) projects were awarded on a rotating basis,” he said. “In the future, we will go through some sort of bidding process.”

Trustee Manuel Medeiros, for one, prefers any and all projects to go out to bid.

The agreement with C.T. Brayton & Sons was ironed out April 9 with the MUSD Facilities Planning Department.

Cost is estimated at $1.4 million. Funding will come from Nutrition Services.

Some $255,000 of Measure M money will pay for the handicapped accessibility upgrades. “ADA was listed as a separate item on the (Measure M) bond measure,” Messer said.

Less than $1 million remains from Measure M funds approved by voters in 2004, according to district officials.