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Plans for improvements at the Anzar High and Aromas School campuses will be the subject of a town hall on Sept. 17 held by the Aromas San Juan Unified School District.
The gathering will focus solely on projects for those schools, as construction has already begun on the new San Juan School.
Following a presentation by Peartree+Belli architect Ismael Magana, who is overseeing a facilities master plan, the district will invite parents and community members to weigh in on the priorities for the various proposals.
District Superintendent Barbara Dill-Varga said that attending the town hall is a way for parents to help create what she called a “blueprint for the future to help shape our schools.”
“I’m hoping that parents will think about their child’s experience at school,” she said. “I want them to come ready to share what they feel is lacking or not as functional as it could be, what they would hope and wish for their kids.”
According to the district’s Facilities Assessment Master Plan, presented by Magana to the school board on Aug. 18, specific priorities have already been established. His presentation begins at 1:35 in the video of that meeting.
Dill-Varga said the top priority is improving drainage at the Aromas School, which affects the main office building and the Kinder wing, and is scheduled to begin in summer 2026.
“We can have flooding there,” she said, “and you’ll often see sandbags in those areas. Our thinking is, until we solve that problem, why would we do anything else? We need to take care of that first.”
Another critical need for both schools, according to Magana, is improved perimeter fencing with keyless entry and additional camera security for Anzar High School. Work on these tasks is also slated to begin in Summer 2026.
“It comes down to the basics,” Magana said. “Which are code compliance and safety issues. We can’t have those not take priority over other desired projects.”
Previous workshops and town halls have brought forward other ideas, but Dill-Varga said that decisions on which to pursue will not be made until there is a better understanding of the final costs of rebuilding San Juan School and the total amount of funding that will be available.
“We’ve just done the paperwork for seismic work from the State Office of Public School Construction,” she said,” Are they going to give us $7 million, $10 million, or $11 million? Until they decide, we won’t know how much money we have left.”
Dill-Varga said that is why the conversation that will take place with the community at the town hall is vitally important.
“We have to get input to establish priorities,” she said. “We need to know what we should take care of first, second, third, and so on. And how much we can use for Aromas and how much for Anzar.”
Some of the other site-specific projects that will be discussed at the town hall:
Aromas School
• Keyless secured access control
• General accessibility (ADA) upgrades
• Portable buildings to be removed, new construction replacement
• Modernization of existing permanent buildings (restrooms and classrooms)
• Administration office and staff lounge modernization
• Multipurpose building modernization (kitchen upgrades, cafeteria and stage)
• Athletic field improvements: track and field, basketball court upgrades
• Gym, public address/clock speaker upgrades
• IT, internet and firewall security updates
• Wellness center, focused on middle school students
Anzar High School
• Accessibility (ADA) upgrades
• Portable buildings to be removed, new construction replacement
• Minor kitchen upgrades
• Covered or enclosed dedicated student seating eating area
• ‘The Hub’ by David Jakes: administration/library building reconfiguration
• Indoor/outdoor classroom/gathering areas
• New synthetic track, field, bleachers and press box
• New performing arts center
• IT, internet and firewall security updates
• Wellness center
Conceptually, Magana said, those are projects that the district needs or wants to undertake, but it is also interested in receiving feedback on any issues that have been overlooked or not addressed.
“It’s very important to get the community involved,” he said, “because we need to understand their views of the day-to-day use of these facilities. We might not be able to accommodate all of the projects, so we would like to get their opinions and suggestions.”
Dill-Varga said that getting this input at the town hall is an important step in the process of creating a final master plan for the two campuses, which will be further refined through meetings with the facilities committee and the school board.
“We are really looking at trying to provide updated facilities that are going to last,” she said. “And it is important that they meet the needs of our teachers and offer more instructional opportunities for our kids.”
The town hall meeting takes place Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. in the Anzar High School library.
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