Santa Lucia Middle School athletic fields nearly ready for showtime

Coast Unified School District officials gathered early Monday at Santa Lucia Middle School to unveil the athletic field coming soon to campus.

Maintenance and Operations Director Lee Wight said the $850,000 project is expected to be complete by Aug. 7, in time for the 2016-17 school year.

All that remained to complete Thursday were the pad, turf, fending and fine grading. Rolls of green turf were visible just off to the side of the field, waiting to be installed.

School board members and the principals at Santa Lucia Middle School, Cambria Grammar School and Coast Union High School were among those on hand for Monday’s dedication ceremony.

Afterward, they toured Santa Lucia’s new art classroom, a portable classroom facility that Principal Kyle Martin said was slightly larger than the building it replaced. The new classroom features interlocking squares of carpet that can be removed and replaced individually if damaged.

The school’s YMCA classroom also received a new floor. The hard rubber material is also made up of interlocking pieces that can be replaced individually.

In addition, Wight said four other portable classrooms and a transportation office have been installed at Coast Union.

The portables replaced some that were manufactured in 1968 and no longer met state standards, he said.

“Lee Wight has done an incredible job,” Superintendent Vicki Schumacher said at the dedication ceremony Monday. “He’s really taken the lead in all these endeavors.”

The Coast Union school board will hold a special meeting 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, at the Old Cambria Grammar School, to discuss the district’s vision for the high school under new principal Scott Ferguson. The district’s next regular board meeting is Aug. 11.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Santa Lucia Middle School athletic fields nearly ready for showtime."