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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>School officials, students, Board of Education members and community supporters celebrated on Tuesday, June 29, the beginning of construction on the district’s project to be funded through the bond referendum approved by county voters in November 2019.</p>
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<p>Commencing this month with an anticipated completion date of September 2023, construction will be broken into multiple phases. A total of $56 million in referendum funds was budgeted for Battery Creek High School renovations that include, but are not limited to:</p>
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<p><strong>Career and technical education improvements</strong>: a new culinary kitchen, agricultural sciences lab, greenhouse, business lab enhancements, and welding HVAC upgrades;</p>
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<p><strong>Athletic improvements: </strong>A new weight room, athletic offices, new turf field, concession building, field house, baseball and softball press boxes, as well as new dugouts and scoreboards for football and softball;</p>
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<p><strong>Safety and security improvements: </strong>IT upgrades, a new fire protection sprinkler system, new camera and PA systems, door and door hardware replacement, hardening of the building exterior, and new fencing;</p>
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<p>New finishes in classrooms, offices, restrooms, locker rooms, cafeteria, and kitchen;</p>
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<p>Building-wide HVAC and electrical upgrades; and</p>
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<p>A new ROTC suite.</p>
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<p>Speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included Board of Education Chair Christina Gwozdz, Superintendent Frank Rodriguez, Battery Creek Principal Chad Cox, and Student Lighthouse Leader Ivan Huerta.</p>
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<p>Both Gwozdz and Rodriguez expressed appreciation to county voters who approved the school district’s bond referendum. “All of these infrastructure enhancements allow us to provide our students with the best environment to learn,” Rodriguez said. “Our goal is to prepare them in the best way possible so that they can be academically successful.”</p>
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<p>Columbia-based M.B. Kahn Construction is the contractor for the renovations and the designer of record is Jumper Carter Sease Architects.</p>
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<p>All referendum projects and expenditures are being independently monitored by the Citizen-Led Oversight Committee, which was represented at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Battery Creek High School.</p>
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