In 1956, the same year Elvis Presley first hit the music charts, Golden High School opened its doors.
Golden will relinquish its title of being the oldest school in Jefferson County School District in August when a $33 million, 188,500-square-foot facility opens just up the hill.
Like many of the district’s 85,000 students, the Golden Demons are ready for a new school.
“You go to other schools, and they’re really nice,” said sophomore Adalius Frank. “It’s getting exciting,” fellow sophomore Angela Noonan said as workmen swarmed around the new building.
Another sophomore, Matthew Anderson, said, “Everything’s run-down” in the current building. “The bathrooms are terrible, the lockers.”
The work has been paid for through a $323.8 million bond issue approved by voters in 2004 and more than $100 million from internal district sources such as transfers, fees and property sales. In 2010 — after six years of renovations, repairs and replacements — 334 projects will have been completed throughout the state’s largest school district.
The bond issue means a property owner pays $8.76 a year for each $100,000 of assessed property value over 20 years.
The program is on budget and on time, district officials say, with a projected $2 million to $3 million contingency fund.
As promised during the bond election, schools in every part of the district get something — heating system and plumbing improvements, electrical and security upgrades, roofs, additions or new buildings.
Half of the projects were completed as of Feb. 15. Steel rafters are swinging into place at Bear Creek High School, which at $35.5 million is the most costly project, and planning is underway on a $10.5 million addition to Evergreen Middle School.
One of the first projects was replacing Lakewood High School, a daunting two-year task while classes were being held at the old school.
Lakewood has a soaring atrium, a new academic wing, a new gym, security cameras, 60,000 more square feet of space. It’s also gone wireless.
“Compared to what a lot of schools have, we feel very fortunate with what we have,” said Lakewood principal Ron Castagna. “From the taxpayers’ standpoint, they got an awful lot in this building.”
The classrooms are “state of the art as of yesterday,” Castagna said, which jibes with how students are learning today.
“Technology needs are never-ending,” said Superintendent Cindy Stevenson. “We’re educating students for a world we can’t even describe.”
Only one out of every four among the district’s 148 schools meet Jeffco’s specifications. When the 2004 bond projects are done, “it doesn’t meet all the needs,” Stevenson said, with some 2004 projects being just the first phases of work.
Another bond issue and mill levy proposal for the November ballot is in the early stages of research and discussion.
The Board of Education has asked the staff to detail needs and report in April. The board is expected to decide in August whether to put it to a public vote, Stevenson said, adding, “We’re trying to keep up.”
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
