Sequoia School is getting a new address.

The elementary campus front will no longer face Martha Street as it has for more than a half a century after the $8.4 million modernization project is completed. Instead, a new office will be built next to the multi-purpose room completed a few years back along Wawona Street.

The entire campus will be re-orientated and reconfigured to improve security as well so the campus can be effectively locked down in emergencies.

There is already a large parking lot in place. 

The Sequoia School modernization is part of the first phase of Measure G bond projects expected to go before the Manteca Unified School District board in the coming months for approval.

Other school modernization projects in the first wave are Golden West, Lincoln, Shasta, and Lathrop Elementary. Some $60 million in Measure G bonds are scheduled to be sold this summer to finance the initial projects. The Sequoia project will also use $981,792 in unspent Measure M bond money.

Deputy Superintendent Clark Burke stressed that new office space will be at a minimum so as much as the bond money can go to instruction space as possible. The same is true with offices being built at other Measure G bond schools to improve campus security.

All of the five schools are scheduled to have existing classroom space be maximized by getting rid of unneeded partitions.  There will be some new classrooms built to replace aging portables. At the same time there is no need for computer labs any longer since the decision to switch all of the district’s 23,500 students over to tablet devices.

Work could start later this year.