During the first Los Banos Unified School District board meeting of the year on Jan. 9, steps to realize the district’s Community Schools Plan were taken with the creation of new job positions. Additionally, the $3.6 million modernization plan for Volta Elementary School was sent out to bid.
According to Community Schools Plan Program Coordinator Heather Wheeler, on May 8, 2024, the school district received a $20,187,500 award from the California School Partnership Program over five years.
The day after the meeting Wheeler said, “This initiative really encourages us to be systematic about being a community hub and ensures we have services to help our entire community with what they need—not what we think they need. It is about making sure everyone has a seat at the table and informing what serves our community needs.”
Essentially, the goal is to have schools benefit the community around them. This includes dental and health clinics for the community, enriching learning activities, real-life lessons and more.
The language and scope set by the district are broad. Wheeler also clarified that it’s about supplementing and working with the existing resources in the city and the district and integrating them to benefit the entire community.
From providing haircuts to holding a class that helps parents learn how to best support their kids regarding math, Wheeler says the initiative runs the gamut of many areas.
The jobs created include 15 community schools liaisons, a single family resource center supervisor and six social workers.
Each liaison will be at a specific school site, except Charleston Elementary School. According to Wheeler, it barely didn’t qualify for the Community Schools Grant. She said, “It won’t be excluded from the activities we will be having at the Family Resource Center.”
Wheeler also stated that services will include each respective school’s needs. “Each school has its own mini community,” she said.
The family resource center supervisor will be in charge of the future family resource center. Wheeler hopes to secure a convenient downtown commercial location by the end of February.
“We’re still in the process of getting that location. We have to go through a vetting process,” Wheeler said. The plan is to have at least one room in the family resource center become a clinical room for health providers.
Other plans include contracting with medical health service providers and establishing an advisory council of roughly 15 individuals.
Wheeler said that every group in the community should be represented in the committee.. Meeting dates have not been set yet, but all applications must be submitted by Feb. 3.
To fill out the application, go to docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiZnvuV-LmOfTlbbnYn5uZXF01Yxpd1-aA3BZ9nJugo0BU3w/viewform.
With the jobs approved, Wheeler looks to fill the positions quickly, as the “rubber meets the road.” She said that patience with the process is needed because the program has many moving parts—it won’t be up and running in a month.
With many components, it takes longer to coordinate than if “one or two people were making all the decisions,” she stated.
Those interested in learning more can attend two town hall meetings. One is the 6 p.m. in-person District’s English Language Advisory Committee (DELAC) meeting on Jan. 21 at Westside Elementary School. The second town hall meeting will transpire the next day on Zoom at 7 p.m. at the following link: us02web.zoom.us/j/87951340264.
According to Facilities and Special Projects Manager Sherry Munday’s report, the Volta Modernization Project is expected to cost around $3.6 million.
It will be paid through deferred maintenance funds. It includes administration building upgrades and the resurfacing of the parking lot.
Munday’s facilities update included the almost finished Creekside Junior High School and Grasslands Elementary School solar panel installation projects. Both were expected to be finished before school returned on Jan. 13.
The TK Center is on schedule, with most of the work done, including the underground utilities and now-buried ditch, since the last meeting.
Munday highlighted the upcoming Los Banos High School Modernization Project. The current scope includes upgrading the walls, floor, ceiling, lighting and technology of the H, J and K wings.
Also included are ADA upgrades across campus. Additionally, the school will be repainted and have a new admin building, senior courtyard, gym floor and bleachers. The parking lot will be resurfaced, too.
The quad will also receive an upgrade replete with shade structures, new seating walls and an outdoor stage. Locker rooms will also get a renovation. Munday said the current lockers “need a lot of repair” because “there is a lot of damage.”
