Along with the Alameda Unified School District’s upcoming graduations and promotions (mostly taking place in June’s first week), the AUSD is looking forward to several important facility openings over the next several months. First up, we’ll hold our ribbon-cutting ceremony for Alameda High School’s Kofman Auditorium at 4 p.m. May 22.

Upgrades for the theater include replacement fire and proscenium curtains; new fixed battens (for hanging the curtains); a full-size projection screen and state-of-the-art projector; new balcony guardrails; strengthened balcony light fixtures; new stage lights, sound system and control panels; a beautifully refinished stage floor; and three new dressing rooms to replace those that had been built beneath the stage and were not accessible.

Second, Wood Middle School’s new campus will open in early August. This gorgeous facility boasts a new classroom building, new administrative/library building, new gymnasium, gardens and green spaces. Two new access roads will help mitigate traffic in the area, as well as provide parking for 80 cars.

After Wood Middle is moved off the old Lum Elementary site and into its new home, Otis Elementary teachers and staff will take up residence on the temporary campus, while they, too, get a brand-new campus. That project will include a new administrative building and media center, a two-story classroom building and an academic quad as well as new shade structures, new playground structures and freshly striped blacktop.

Just a few short months later (likely October), AUSD officials expect the new Alameda High swim center to open. This replacement center will provide vastly improved aquatic facilities for district students and the city of Alameda, including a new 12-lane-by-30-meter competition pool for swim and water polo, a four-lane practice pool, a new pool deck with lighting, all new non-climbable fencing and other aquatic amenities.

The project also provides a new tennis court to replace a court that needed to be demolished for the enlarged pools. The project was delayed to allow time for the AUSD to work with the Alameda County Health Department in investigating and remediating impacted soil and groundwater, work that is now complete.

This project and the aforementioned other ones at Alameda High, Wood Middle and Otis Elementary schools were all made possible by the city of Alameda’s voter-approved Measure I and Measure B facility bonds, and we at the AUSD are so grateful to our community for supporting these measures.

Students, staff and the community as a whole will all benefit from having clean, safe, modern and aesthetically pleasing facilities here on the Island.

Reach Susan Davis, the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs, at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.