By Khalida Sarwari
Presentation High School has announced plans for a major overhaul of its campus, a project expected to get underway in 2020.
The renovation is to take place in multiple phases, with the first one spanning a year and involving the demolition of several buildings and construction of seven new structures and additional parking areas.
The first phase would focus on facilities deemed the most inadequate yet with the highest student use, according to school principal Mary Miller. Those are the cafeteria, event space and library.
When completed, the first phase will feature a renovated cafeteria, student lounge, library and tech center, study center, classrooms, meeting space for student projects, weight room and workout facility, enlarged dance studio, large multi-purpose space for events and meetings, and practice space.
Among the buildings the school is considering knocking down altogether are the student center, chapel and two classrooms.
While the school is eyeing 2020 as the start of construction, “the timing is not set in stone because it relies on a number of variables,” Miller said. Further phases are only conceptually planned at this point, she added.
According to Miller, aging buildings necessitated the remodeling effort, as the original structures are nearly 60 years old. What’s more, Miller noted that “the needs of students and schools have changed over time.”
An added bonus, Miller said, is that by expanding its facilities, the school will create space for an additional 100 students, which would bring the student body to 850 girls. Presentation is an all-girls private Catholic school.
A master plan for this project accounts for a modest enrollment growth equaling fewer than 30 girls, Miller said. That plan also addresses parking, traffic and safety issues and indicates that measures will be taken to reduce construction impacts.
Discussions about the renovation began in earnest in mid-2017 when Presentation started working with an architect to develop a long-term master site plan. As part of that effort, the school had applied to rezone an 8.79-acre site on its property from single-family residence to public/quasi-public.
The last building project at Presentation occurred almost four years ago.
In terms of outreach, Miller said the school has conducted three neighborhood meetings and plans one more for the near future, to be hosted by the city of San Jose.
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