|
 |
 |
| SAN JOAQUIN BUREAU, Saturday, July 10, 2004 |
| by Aaron Swarts |
|
| First school bells to ring at Wicklund - Long-delayed Mountain House school is finally ready to open next month |
|
MOUNTAIN HOUSE -- The final touches of paint and polish are being applied to Wicklund School in Mountain House, which will open its doors to students for the first time at the end of August.
The kindergarten-through-grade8 facility sits on 16 acres on Legacy Drive in Mountain House, and eventually will be home to more than 850 students in the Lammersville School District.
"We are really excited; this school has been in the works for a long time," said Superintendent Bill Lebo. "With all of the requirements from the county, this project has been on the shelf for a while. But we finally started construction about a year and a half ago."
Lebo said plans for the site were completed in 1997, but the developer needed time to meet local codes for construction.
The school comes with a $13.5 million price tag and will feature a joint-use community park next door.
"It will be a 5-acre park with softball fields and other equipment," Lebo said. "It will be an area that both the community and students can enjoy."
Wicklund eventually will serve about 1,000 homes in Mountain House, many of which already are occupied.
"There are about 500 completed homes in the area at this point," Lebo said. "The school will open up with about 270 students, and within a couple of years we should be at full capacity."
Wicklund students have been attending Lammersville Elementary School, the other campus in the Lammersville district.
"Lammersville has been used as an overflow until Wicklund was completed," Lebo said. "Now those students will be able to attend a school right in the middle of their neighborhood. We won't even have to provide busing. All of the students will be able to walk or ride a bike to school."
After graduation, Wicklund students will attend one of the high schools in Tracy.
A formal dedication ceremony for Wicklund will be held 10 a.m. Aug. 21 at the school, 300 E. Legacy Drive. The official first day of school will be Aug. 24.
"This is really an exciting time. We have new students enrolling every day," Lebo said. "We can't wait to get started."
Aaron Swarts covers education for the Tri-Valley Herald in San Joaquin County. He can be reached at (209) 832-6139 or aswarts@angnewspapers.com.
|
|
|
