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Why haven't you run anything about the new Beardsley school?
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Posted by lward Fri Jan 14, 2005 13:10:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments You're right, Jennifer, we haven't reported anything about the new school, San Lauren Elementary, and it's time we do!

The new $10 million, 10.3-acre school on the corner of Victor Street and Basilicata Drive will soon be home to 420 kindergarten through sixth-grade students who live west of Highway 99 and east of Fruitvale Avenue. The school will be part of Beardsley School District.

Most students live within walking distance to the school, located south of Olive Drive and west of 99.

The Beardsley School District originated in late 1882, when Lewis A. Beardsley, a former teacher and principal at Bakersfield School, donated an acre of land and helped build a one-room schoolhouse. Beardsley School began with two teachers, Louis Beardsley and C.M. Chadwick, with an average daily attendance of 25 students.

The last district school was built around 1952. Today, North Beardsley, Beardsley Intermediate and Beardsley Junior High are crammed full.

"We're almost landlocked," said Superintendent Kenneth Chapman, who noted the school will fill a need in the area.

"The San Lauren development alone has around 500 homes," he said. "And the Olive Drive area is 70 percent empty-nesters, and they'll eventually move on and we'll have kids there."

While construction of the exterior of the school is set to be completed by September, Chapman said the school will not be completely finished at that point because the $7.1 million bond measure passed in 2000 isn't covering the costs as expceted.

"Construction alone has cost 10.7 million. We've had about a 50-percent price increase," said Chapman, who said eight classrooms that cost $2 million to build will be replaced, for the time being, with portable classrooms.

Teachers have already been assigned to San Lauren, Chapman said, but students will start out attending their regular schools in the fall and then be pulled over classroom by classroom, probably starting in October.

"After that, we'll see what the public support is and if we need to go back and do another bond," he said.

Chapman promises the school will be beautiful, if not exactly what he had in mind initially.

"It was my dream to have a mission-style school, but my dreams were shattered by lack of money," he said, chuckling.

Chapman did manage to hold out for a tile roof, and the building will be painted in three different earth tones.

He said San Lauren will be similar to other schools in the district in terms of excellence in technology and a focus on multimedia.

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