Eyeing a start to construction this coming summer, details and updated renderings for Bird Rock Elementary School’s forthcoming modernization project were shared with community members at a coffee with principal Eric Banatao on Nov. 20.
The project calls for a new, one-story kindergarten building; a singular point-of-entry administration building visible from the street; and a two-story building with nine classrooms. Plans also include a new play yard and a shade structure on the east side of campus. Phase one, tentatively scheduled for June 2026 to August 2027, includes demolishing several buildings, upgrading library fire alarms and readying central campus for construction.
Banatao says the project will provide more classroom space, more areas for student projects, dedicated space for music and arts programs and additional restrooms in the kindergarten/TK area.
The beginning of the project coincides with the school’s 75th anniversary in 2026. With these modifications and upgrades, Banatao says it’ll “set the stage for [Bird Rock Elementary]’s next 75 years.”
A concept plan prepared by Safdie Rabines Architects was presented at Nov. 20’s coffee with the principal meeting. (Safdie Rabines Architects)
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A concept plan prepared by Safdie Rabines Architects was presented at Nov. 20’s coffee with the principal meeting. (Safdie Rabines Architects)
Conversations regarding project details date back to November 2023 as staff and community members shared their wants and needs at public meetings. Some of those requests included consolidating the kindergarten/TK area and ensuring secure play yards for students. Implementing their feedback into construction plans, he says, led to “overwhelmingly positive” feedback on Nov. 20.
“The community members who were in attendance at our coffee with the principal foundation meeting said that their … feedback came to life in some of our rendering and the plans,” Banatao said of the meeting. “They were very happy with feeling heard, and that input was represented in some of the architectural renderings and plans.”
Nevertheless, construction impacts are anticipated.
“We know that space will be a commodity on campus when we open up in ‘26-27,” Banatao said. “In terms of how we’re preparing, part of it is … how we might need to downsize to make use of space. And one of the things that we know we’ll have to do is reduce the amount of TK sections that we have. This year, we have three, but we have to reduce down to one, with our neighboring La Jolla cluster schools maybe picking up some of our TK overflow, at least temporarily as we get through that first phase of construction.”
Bird Rock is the latest La Jolla cluster school to launch their modernization project.
Muirlands’ modernization project launched Nov. 24, principal Brendan Simon announced in a newsletter last month. According to the San Diego Unified School District’s facilities projects web page, Muirlands’ whole-site modernization project will renovate all existing permanent classrooms and support buildings, including the administration and multipurpose buildings, and make minor alterations to the media center/library. Existing campus portables will be removed. The entire Muirlands project is slated to continue into late 2028, with an estimated cost of $25 million.
Torrey Pines Elementary, meanwhile, has a roughly $25 million whole-site modernization project projected to start in 2027.
Whole-site modernization projects have also been completed in recent years at other La Jolla schools: La Jolla High School’s modernization was completed in 2021 and La Jolla Elementary School’s was completed last year.