District ready to move Bosque Farms students
August 11, 2009
The temporary campus being set up to house Bosque Farms Elementary School students when they return to classes on August 17 is ready for the students, Los Lunas Schools Superintendent Bernard Saiz said yesterday.
“We’re pretty much ready for them to move in,” Saiz said, noting some small details are left to be worked out, including setting up network services for computers.
The students’ permanent site in Bosque Farms will shut down for nearly a year and a half beginning this school year because of a major construction project set to commence there in November.
District officials over the last several months sought and recently obtained state funding for the nearly $14-million construction project, which will address classroom overcrowding by adding two new buildings with classrooms, as well as minor renovations to existing facilities.
The state committed $11.4 million and the district will pay the remainder with bond money.
While the construction takes place, students will be taught at a temporary campus referred to as the “Blue School,” because of the color of some of the structures.
The Blue School was first set up decades ago by the district as a temporary site for any school that was under construction. For a short period it became a magnet school called Mariposa, which provided remediation to students who had fallen behind in their studies. Most recently it housed the Family School, a place where students who are home schooled could take some classes.
The Blue School, located next to Daniel Fernandez Elementary School and Century High School, has had portable classrooms added to it in preparation for its new students.
The portables were moved from Katherine Gallegos Elementary School, where they had been used to alleviate overcrowding. Sundance Elementary School opened west of Los Lunas earlier this year, lessening the number of students at Katherine Gallegos Elementary and freeing up the portables for use elsewhere.
“All of their classroom supplies, materials and furniture have been moved from the Bosque Farms site to the temporary site,” Saiz said. “It’s just a matter of the teachers going in and spending a couple of days getting their rooms set up, their furniture set up.”
The Blue School has a new six-foot fence to separate it from the other nearby schools. The district has set up bus routes and drop-off and pick-up locations for parents. Officials also have designated a parking area for staff, faculty and visitors.
Saiz acknowledged there will be a potentially problematic increase in traffic in the area. He said the district will have extra security on hand to deal with any issues, including directing bus traffic at the intersection of Sun Valley and El Cerro roads.
Saiz said the school day will start at the same time, and he expects no disruption to the educational process.
“The curriculum will be no different. The instructional practices, the teachers, will be the same,” he said. “The principal will be the same. The only difference is they’re going to be in a portable school rather than a brick and mortar building. And, of course, it is miles away from their home school in Bosque Farms.”
The students will return to Bosque Farms in January 2011.
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