UPDATE: RJUHSD passed Measure D (60.3%) on Nov. 8.

If Roseville Joint Union High School’s Measure D bond passes, Roseville High School will receive a $13 million makeover. Improvements could include a new gym, the resurfacing of the pool deck and upgrades to the football stadium and 100 and 800 wings.

Severson guarantees this minimum amount in case extra funds are needed to cover unexpected challenges. Severson also considered RHS’ high demand for reconstruction and structural improvement, compared to other schools, when allocating these funds.

“RHS may get a little more because there are more needs to be met, but the goal is that there is something that would enable all the schools to make improvements,” Severson said.

RHS administration and the RJUHSD board members will decide how to allocate the funds if the bond passes in November and site administration will consult with specific departments to address their needs.

RHS athletic director Emily Dodds trusts that administration will rightfully consider the facilities that need the most immediate improvement and hopes they allow input if the bond passes.

“It would be nice to have [the athletic facilities] updated, but they are usable,” Dodds said. “I think once our administration and the district office decide what exactly the money will go to, then I will be brought in on the planning portion. But I think administration and the district have seen our dire need for better sports facilities to make them equitable to other facilities in the district.”

ASB president Parker Crews hopes that administration will try to consider opinions of the student body as well.

“I’d like for the students to have some voice in where the money goes,” Crews said. “But if we don’t get that chance, I’d at least like to know where the money goes and I trust [administration] to make effective changes.”

Aging small gym

As far as RHS facilities are concerned, teachers, and specific departments do not take part in the allocation of the funds but if the measure passes, Byrd will work with the athletic department to decide the most effective ways for the school to spend the money in order to benefit a wide range of athletic necessities. They will consider which facilities are the most in need of structural improvement. RHS administration plans to focus primarily on replacing the aging small gym and the girls locker room.

“A 92 year-old facility just isn’t effective anymore. [The small gym] needs to be completely replaced,” Byrd said. “It’s got to be facilities, it can’t be stuff that’s going to be used for a year and then over with. It’s got to be used for things that will last for 30 or 40 years and so that’s what we plan to invest in.”

Severson believes that having the most effective facilities in place is the best way to provide both stimulating education, athletics, and extracurriculars.

“In reality, the students at RHS should have similar facilities to all the other students in the rest of the district,” Severson said. “So this money would be used to take care of some major structural repairs.”

Dodds places the highest importance on the small gym and girls locker room.

“Hopefully Measure D will be used to build a new small gym and girls locker room. I would say our small gym is of most importance because it is not ADA compliant,” Dodds said. “It would also be nice to have a small gym with proper AC/Heat and an up-to-date locker room for our students.”

Cameron Anderson, a four-year basketball player, attended a city council meeting informing the community of Measure D, and was surprised to learn exactly how decayed the small gym is. Anderson was also enthusiastic to learn that the small gym is of high consideration for significant renovation or potential replacement.

“As a basketball player, I know we could use a new small gym because it’s unsafe to be in there. The floors and the wooden walls are falling apart,” Anderson said. “So overall, even though I am a senior, I’m excited to see the new changes.”

The physical education department uses the small gym for daily games, gymnastics and other activities. P.E. teacher Greg Granucci will be grateful for any aspect of the gym that Measure D will allow RHS to renovate.

“It is a little cramped in there so I think anything that can be done in that gym is going to help as P.E. teachers because we can utilize having our classes up there,” Granucci said.

Obvious obstacles students face regarding the girls locker room are cockroaches, broken benches, and lack of substantial space and air conditioning. According to senior volleyball player Savanah Smith, her locker room offers little for sports players and P.E. students at RHS as well as visitors to the school.

“We don’t really have a lot of space, so I think they can improve on the space factor,” Smith said. “Also, other campuses that I’ve been on through volleyball that I’ve gone in and changed in, are really nice. I feel like we should also have that available for athletes from other schools to use and change in.”

Varsity girls basketball coach Josh Errecart advocates for an entirely new girls locker room that would be built along with the potential addition of a big gym attached to the current Moeller gym.

“From a girls basketball perspective, the locker room is extremely inadequate in terms of space and quality, so we would love to have a new locker room, maybe even in this new bigger gym,” Errecart said.

Pool deck

The athletic department also considers the pool’s deck and surrounding area as a possible primary target of renovation because of its decaying structure, appearance and consequential safety hazards. P.E. classes use the pool for instructional units for swimming and water safety throughout the year. More frequently, the swim and water polo teams use the pool for practices and games during each of their seasons.

Granucci is hopeful that the bond passing will also help bring the pool area up to modern standards.

“Just like the gym itself, the pool area obviously needs some updating, the deck of the pool for sure,” Granucci said. “It is safer for our students if everything out here is upgraded and modernized.”

Water polo coach Paul Stewart is a strong advocate for an entirely new pool, but is hopeful that the structural improvement of the deck will satisfy the needs that RHS is striving to meet with Measure D.

“I think [it is a safety issue] because somebody could get hurt, it doesn’t look good, it’s cracked, it gets sun drenched [and] it doesn’t look professional,” Stewart said. “It’d be nice if instead of just upgrading the deck, to upgrade the entire pool. I would love something bigger and beautiful, but the only thing they are going to do with this is refurbish.”

Water polo player Kiara Felix doesn’t regard the pool or pool deck as a safety or structural issue, but is concerned about lack of organization and ample space.

“I’ve never really had a problem with the deck,” Felix said. “I think the pool is fine. It’s safe. It could be a lot bigger and we could have better seating. I guess everything would be better if it was a little bigger.”

100 wing

This year, administration took action by replacing the rooftops in the 100 wing. Byrd acknowledges that the art wing, including both the art room and the ceramics classroom, needs to be remodeled in order to conform to twenty-first century standards, but knows that the most important task currently at hand is the structural interior needing to be renovated for safety purposes and to introduce better equipment to improve the quality of the program.

“We want to modernize our art wing and bring it up to the twenty-first century for our art program,” Byrd said. “We did renovate the roof, but the rest of the interior underneath that needs new tables, equipment, cabinets and flooring.”

Jordan Eaton has spent all four of her high school career enrolled in classes in the art wing, frequently utilizing both the art and ceramic classrooms and equipment. Her concern for students’ safety is her primary reason for her support of Measure D.

“It is a safety hazard; I actually got cut by one of the broken tables and I had a huge gash,” Eaton said. “It was nice to have the new roofs but there are still some improvements to be made.”

Hanson Field upgrades

Byrd said the football stadium area needs a wide range of improvements, from refurbishing infrastructure to building completely new facilities.

“We also have a stadium that could be refurbished,” Byrd said. “We want to improve the press box, the snack bar area, and to build restrooms for our visitors that come to our games.”

Byrd also values improving the press box above the home side’s bleachers with consideration for safety and convenience for people who frequently use it.

U.S. history teacher Ron Grove announces most of the football games held in the stadium and advocates for Measure D, in order to fund a more dependable, accessible and convenient press box.

“It’s not big enough and it doesn’t comply with the American with Disabilities Act,” Grove said. “I do feel that it’s safe but I’d like to see more room, a sturdier build and access for ADA. Air conditioning would be nice too.”

According to Byrd, administration encourages teachers to volunteer at games held in the stadium solely to help direct visitors because the only bathroom available to the visitors is the bathroom outside of stadium boundaries in the foyer.

This requires teachers like Robert Mahlman, who recently volunteered to prevent trespassers at the stadium gates, to spend time directing visitors to the correct bathrooms. Mahlman believes administration should consider new and renovated bathrooms to transform RHS’s dilapidated appearance.

“It was actually a very important job because the visitors had no idea where it was. I think they do this to separate the students to prevent interaction, but it’d definitely be nicer if there were visitor bathrooms,” Mahlman said. “It’s inconvenient for the visiting fans and it makes the school look outdated. If there were to be a new visitor bathroom, maybe right next to the snack bar on the visitor side, it would really be more convenient for everybody.”

Engineering/800 wing

RHS’ Project Lead the Way program, with courses like engineering and biomedical sciences, has expanded and added sections since its introduction last year. Byrd hopes that funds from Measure D will assist in the structural and technological necessities to further modernize the engineering program.

“The old woodshop room is now slowly being converted into an engineering center for PLTW,” Byrd said. “We’ve got new computers in there, but behind that where they should engineer and build things are being used for storage. We want to completely modernize that and call it an engineering lab and really push our engineering at RHS.”

Introduction to engineering teacher John Fuller is content with the current path the program is following, but is hopeful to modernize and improve the engineering program in any way that Measure D will allow.

“I know that there are so many things around campus that need to be cleaned up so I’m definitely not pushing for too much,” Fuller said. “I’m hoping the money will be used for getting some lab tables, chairs, getting extra storage facilities. Maybe even some 3D printers and mills and more things to actually manufacture and to help turn the program into more of a functional and organized course. It’s going to be interesting to really modernize and upgrade the program.”

Sophomore Josh Rebello looks forward to more opportunities new technology could bring to PLTW courses.

“I’m taking principles of biomedical sciences right now, which is the first of four PLTW courses,” Rebello said. “I’m hoping to continue to take the PLTW classes so it would be easier for us with new equipment so we can stay up-to-date with technology that actual medical professionals use. It would also be really nice to get new computers because they are really slow and sometimes crash completely.”

Potential new ‘big’ gym

The passing of Measure D could allow for the construction of an entirely new gym, making the current Moeller Gym the new small gym. Though Dodds is currently not involved with the planning of the allocation of the funds at RHS, she is hopeful that the passing will allow her input for consideration of the new larger gym.

Errecart considers building a potential new gym as crucial to the growing success of the athletic department of RHS.

“Right now we cannot hold tournaments, games, practices, because it’s extremely inadequate,” Errecart said. “If we do get a new gym on the blacktop, we’re hoping that the current Moeller gym becomes the ‘small’ gym and that would be super valuable. Having two adequate big gyms would definitely allow us to host more events and utilize that.”

Overcrowding within the district

If passed in November, $30 million of the collective $96 million bond would go towards constructing Phase one of the sixth high school in the west Roseville area.

According to Severson, when the recession hit in 2008, the district was forced to set aside the proposal and planning of the sixth high school because of the sudden lack of real estate growth. With the recovery of the developmental growth in the area, Severson expects a higher demand for the new high school.

“[The sixth high school is] about a $200 million project in total; this money is coming from the folks that live in that community through their developer fees and through a separate bond that they are paying. But we’re asking the rest of the district to contribute so we can get a school out there by the year 2020,” Severson said.

Severson believes the new school will allow for more manageable enrollment numbers in the district’s schools, and this will encourage the community to vote in favor of the bond.

“If we can’t get this school on the ground by 2020, we are going to end up busing over 1,000 high school kids to other schools in the district, which will create overcrowding,” Severson said.

According to Byrd, the last of the intended improvements include simple renovations meant to reverse the quick “wear and tear” on the cramped campus. This includes upgraded lighting on campus, landscaping, a remodeled cafeteria interior, new carpet, paint, desks and chairs.

Severson is confident that Measure D will pass in November.

“We’ve got nothing but great support right now,” Severson said. “We’ve gotten support from both the conservative side of the community as well as the more liberal. The city government supports this as well, all of the elected officials endorse it, we’ve had the mayor of Roseville endorse it.”