Aquatic Center expected to begin construction this Fall
PASO ROBLES — An update on the Aquatic Center was presented at the Tuesday, Feb. 14, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) board meeting.
Construction of the long-awaited Aquatic Center is now expected to begin this fall. Blueprint plans show the center will have a bathhouse/locker room, outdoor concrete deck, and 12-lane pool that will accommodate water polo with diving boards and spectator seating.
The next step in moving forward with the center is registering the project with the Division of the State Architect (DSA) and gaining their approval.
As of right now, the Aquatic Center is expected to be ready for occupancy by August 2024.
Later in the meeting, trustees approved the Twig Science for TK through fifth-grade students’ science curriculum. The new curriculum will start with the 2023-2024 school year.
The new curriculum was brought back for additional discussion after being presented at the Jan. 24 meeting. At that meeting, trustees Dorian Baker, Laurene McCoy, and Nathan Williams all voted no on approving the science curriculum.
Baker was the first to raise concerns on the proposed program due to questionable information regarding water usage and wanting more time to go over the curriculum. Williams and McCoy agreed on the grounds of giving trustees more time to go over the science studies.
“I feel the need to push back, not against our staff,” said Baker, who echoed her original views on the curriculum. “But against an increasingly bureaucratic education establishment that includes the State Department of Education, the textbook publishes and sometimes teacher unions and groups like that.”
Baker added additional reasons for her voting no on the curriculum: “Under the guise of science, the publishers are persuading children to conclude that feeding human beings animal protein is inefficient and costly.”
Baker referred to the publishers of the Twig program that there is no mention of the water usage in relation to vegetable and recreational crops and water wasted by lack of reservoirs in place in California specifically.
Trustee Joel Peterson disagreed, saying he felt the program was costly but worth it for the students.
In the end, the Twig program was approved with a 6-1 vote, Baker voting no.
The next Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m.
