The San Diego Unified School District kicked off major campus work Tuesday at 62-year-old Holmes Elementary School, part of a district-wide push for site modernizations.

Students at the two-time California Distinguished School joined Board of Education President Shana Hazan, Vice President Cody Petterson, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and others Tuesday to mark the groundbreaking on the construction, funded by local school bonds.

“Holmes Elementary staff have been devoted to students and the neighboring community for more than six decades, contributing to high test scores and academic success,” Hazan said. “With local voters approving our bond measures, we can match that success with high-quality, modern facilities, like the ones we will see here.”

Once completed, the project is slated to add an upper-grade classroom facility, a student services facility, a Universal Transitional Kindergarten classroom building, two kindergarten classrooms, a joint-use grass play field and other improvements, according to the district.

Existing upper-grade and kindergarten classrooms will be modernized to include new paint, flooring, finishes and white boards.

“With new housing underway down the street, now is the time to re-invigorate our campus so that it is ready to serve all neighborhood students,” Holmes Principal Jonathan Saipe said.

According to the district, additional improvements include the modernization of three classroom buildings, expansion of the food services kitchen, conversion of the student services facility into educational spaces, creation of a new parking lot with a student drop-off and pick-up area and enhancements to safety, security and exterior hard court areas.

The joint-use grass play field will feature a walking and running track, a drinking fountain, new trees, fencing and gates to separate the field from the main campus. As part of a partnership with the city, the field will be accessible to the community as a neighborhood park after school hours and during school breaks.

Construction on the project is estimated to be completed in late 2026.

City News Service contributed to this article.

The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education elected new board officers, with Shana Hazan selected as president and Dr. Cody Petterson chosen as vice president.    

The board voted unanimously to select Hazan and Petterson as new officers during its public meeting yesterday. 

“As a trustee and the mom of two students in our schools, I am committed to ensuring all our children can reach their full potential,” Hazan said. “I am grateful to be part of such a trusting and collaborative school board and will work in partnership with my fellow trustees to set policy and shape strategy centered around students and families. I look forward to listening and learning from students, families, staff, and community partners to build a school district that sets all students up for success.”

The board president presides at meetings, helps set board meeting agendas and serves as the spokesperson for the seven-member board, which sets policy for the school district. The new board officers serve one-year terms that conclude on December 10, 2024.

Hazan served as board vice president since she was elected to represent the northeastern swath of San Diego Unified in sub-district B last year. Dr. Petterson was also elected to the board in 2022, and represents the coastal region of sub-district C. 

Both Hazan and Petterson are graduates of San Diego Unified, and they both have children who currently attend district schools. 

Political newcomer Shana Hazan‘s widespread support in her campaign for election to the San Diego Unified School District board in District B is reflected at the polls. SDUSD, California’s second largest, now elects trustees from specific geographic areas. 

Hazan has a commanding lead over Godwin Higa at 60.6% of the vote for the district encompassing northeastern San Diego, according to the county Registrar of Voters website. Hazan is a former teacher and nonprofit executive who serves on the California First 5 Commission.

Born and raised in San Diego, Hazan is a fourth-generation San Diego Unified student who graduated from Scripps Ranch High School. Hazan and her husband Marc live in Kensington where they’re raising two daughters, the older of whom attends their neighborhood school.

In District C, the race is a little closer. Cody Petterson, an educator from La Jolla and adviser to County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, leads with 54.5% of the vote over Becca Williams, a conservative charter-school founder, getting 45.4%.

Political newcomer Shana Hazan received widespread support for her campaign and at the polls early Tuesday night for election to the San Diego Unified School District board in District B.

Hazan had a commanding lead over Godwin Higa with 52.3% of the vote to 24.8% for the district encompassing northeastern San Diego, according to the county Registrar of Voters website.

She is a former teacher and nonprofit executive who serves on the California First 5 Commission.

Born and raised in San Diego, Hazan is a fourth-generation San Diego Unified student, graduating from Scripps Ranch High School. Hazan and her husband Marc live in Kensington where they’re raising two daughters, the older of whom attends their neighborhood school.

The race was tighter in District C, where Cody Petterson was ahead of Becca Williams with 45.5% of the vote to 31.8%.

Petterson is from La Jolla and a policy adviser for county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.

The top two vote-getters for each district race advance to the November election. This is the first year that both the primary and general elections for San Diego Unified are district-only.

Updated at 11:21 p.m. June 7, 2022

Two San Diego environmental advocacy organizations announced their support for Measure G Friday, the SDSU West initiative, and their opposition to Measure E, the SoccerCity initiative.

Representatives of the Endangered Habitats League  and the San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action endorsed the SDSU West plan to redevelop the current SDCCU Stadium site while calling the competing SoccerCity redevelopment plan “dangerously flawed” for what SDSU West supporters argue is a lack of a California Environmental Quality Act review on SoccerCity’s environmental impact.

“We only have one chance to get the future of this site right, and Measure E is just not right for a multitude of reasons,” said Cody Petterson of the San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action. “SoccerCity would bring an environmental nightmare to our community by exempting a development of unprecedented proportions to bypass the critical environmental review process designed specifically for this type of project.”

A third environmental group, the San Diego Audubon Society, attended the announcement but clarified later they were opposed to SoccerCity but had adopted no position, for or against, SDSU West.

SoccerCity project manager Nick Stone argued last month that the measure’s plan complies with CEQA by allocating $50 million in funding for things like traffic improvements.

“Measure E’s specific plan lays out a detailed set of traffic improvements and requires SoccerCity to either fund or build those upgrades,” Stone said. “Our engineers have estimated the costs for those improvements today, but Measure E commits to fund the cost at the time of construction.”

SDSU West is an initiative backed by the Friends of SDSU alumni group to redevelop the SDCCU Stadium site into a 35,000-seat stadium for San Diego State University football, commercial and residential space, a river park and a campus extension.

The environmental activists joins a large list of local politicians and advocacy groups that support SDSU West, including San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox, San Diego City Council members Barbara Bry and Lorie Zapf, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Democratic Party.

SoccerCity is a similar plan to renovate SDCCU Stadium backed by La Jolla-based investment group FS Investors. The initiative contains plans similar to SDSU West for commercial and residential space and a river park while building a slightly smaller multi-use stadium, at 23,500 seats, that would accommodate football and soccer. The plan doesn’t specifically include a campus extension the way SDSU West does, an oft-cited reason for opposition by SDSU West endorsers, but supporters say its text has enough leniency to allow SDSU to build a campus extension.

SoccerCity supporters include former Olympic soccer stars Landon Donovan and Shannon MacMillan, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman, who represents the district containing the SDCCU Stadium site.

If both measures receive 50 percent of voter approval in the November election, the measure with the higher percentage of voters would win. Supporters of the winning plan will be able to negotiate the purchase of the stadium site from the City of San Diego.

Updated at 1:40 p.m., Friday, Oct. 19, 2018

— City News Service