A new two-story classroom building under construction at Audubon Elementary School in Foster City will help relieve some of the pressure of increasing enrollment in recent years, school officials say.
The 10-classroom building at the kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school is slated for completion by the end of the summer, in time for the start of the new school year.
The new facility will replace three temporary classroom structures, or portables, which were added as a stopgap measure in 2009 to accommodate a rising number of students.
The Audubon project is being constructed with funds from Measure L, which dedicated $175 million to improve San Mateo-Foster City School District schools. Voters approved the measure in February 2008.
Many of the other Measure L projects have already been completed, making the Audubon school building the largest-scale project yet to be finished. When the district updated parents on the project's progress in May, stairwells in the new building were already complete, heating, ventilation and air conditioning units were installed, and elevators were just starting to go in. Barring any delays, school officials say the new classrooms are expected to be ready for students by the fall semester.
"The District continues to move forward with its Measure L construction for the Audubon New Two-Story Ten-Classroom Building," Principal Maria Brady said in her letter to parents. "Most importantly, we continue to be on schedule for the opening of the new classroom building next fall for our students."
The other remaining Measure L projects mostly involve fence repair and exterior paint work at Audubon and other district schools. All Measure L projects are set to be completed by the end of this year, according to the district.
District officials say the addition of facilities such as the Audubon building are needed as enrollment in the San Mateo-Foster City School District's 20 elementary, middle, and K-8 schools has been steadily increasing. From 2008 to 2013, the total enrollment has increased from 10,079 students to 11,782.