The Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) recently gave an update on the new construction project at Wood Middle School.

In a press release, AUSD stated that the demolition of Wood’s current campus and construction of the new facility will take place July 2024 to July 2026. During that time, Wood Middle School will be housed in portable buildings on a temporary campus at the Lum Elementary site, 1801 Sandcreek Way.

Once the Wood construction is complete, Otis Elementary students will use the portables, while a new classroom building is constructed on their campus. When the Otis construction is complete (2028), the portables will be removed, as they are not suitable for housing permanent educational programs.

The new design was created by a group of Wood staff and families in collaboration with Quattrocchi Kwok Architects and district staff. It is estimated to cost more than $80 million. The project will be funded by Measure I and Measure B bond revenue.

At its June 27 public meeting, the AUSD Board of Education approved the major re-design and construction project at Wood Middle School. Although the original plan had been to modernize the 1965 campus, after some investigation, the architects and design committee realized that the campus needed so much work — including significant improvement in the educational environments — that even an extensive modernization would not be adequate. As a result, the design committee ultimately decided that creating a new campus and buildings was the best step.

Construction workers will begin removing the buildings from the now-closed Lum Elementary School campus in November. The portables at the Lum Elementary site should be installed in August 2024, before the 2024-2025 school year.

Lum Elementary School, built in 1959, was closed in 2017, due to seismic risks. Seismic engineers found that the existing foundations were insufficient for liquifiable soils. The portables chosen for Wood’s temporary campus will have foundations that are appropriate for that kind of soil, and California’s Division of the Architect will review and sign off on the entire project before the portables are placed, according to AUSD.

AUSD plans to construct a new athletic field for Alameda High School on the Lum campus once Otis Elementary School construction is complete.

Contact Sun staff at editor@alamedasun.com.