After months of delays, the Paso Robles school board approved a $6 million-plus project to revamp Georgia Brown Dual Immersion School’s campus, opting to keep its current science labs despite district staff’s recommendation.
The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) school board reviewed six different options at its March 25 meeting to renovate Georgia Brown’s campus, which focused on science lab facilities, as well as campus and traffic flow.
Of the six options, Assistant Superintendent Brad Pawlowski said staff recommended “Option 1.” It would have provided a TK and kindergarten drop-off area and new modernized science lab and improved campus flow between the lower and higher grades.
At an estimated cost of $6 million, the project could be completed by the end of 2026.
“It is considered the most fiscally responsible option provided and provides for [grade level] campus flow, meeting the needs of all learners,” he told the board.
This wasn’t the first time the board reviewed the $6 million project’s potential. District staff initially asked for project approval in January, when the board approved a $6 million budget under the condition that more options would be presented to the board. The district spent another $30,000 to develop the options, Pawlowski said on March 25.
Funding for the project comes from the previously passed Measure M, a $95 million school bond voters approved in 2016 intended to enhance school facilities and build a new aquatic center. The measure has about $12.5 million remaining, according to the March 25 staff report.
Pawlowski told the board that the project has been stalled for more than two months and urged the board to make a decision.
“We may have missed critical timelines,” he said. “We may have missed specific move-in dates that may have been more ideal, and so it really is compounded.”
Despite staff’s recommendation for Option 1, residents disagreed. Nearly 10 spoke in favor of Option 6, including students that held up signs reading “Save Georgia Brown science!”
With an estimated price tag of $6.4 million, Option 6 would keep existing science labs where they are, create a complex for TK, and provide improved traffic flow off nearby Creston Street. But according to staff, cons included relocating already purchased portables, extending the distance from classrooms to the office, and no improvements to grade flow.
Despite the cons, district parents argued to keep the current science labs facilities and improve traffic flow.
One district parent argued that “grade flow” was no reason to tear down quality science labs, which under staff’s recommendation would be demolished and moved to portables.
“Grade flow does not justify the destruction of the current labs for replacement of something that will be equivalent or better than what is there now,” she said.
Another speaker argued that TK and kindergarten pickup and drop-off space wasn’t necessary and would just create a “traffic knot,” as parents would take time to unbuckle their 4-year-olds and hug them goodbye.
She said she was “shocked” traffic wasn’t considered and that Option 1 was “not viable.”
Board member Leo Castillo agreed with the public speakers and said that Option 6 was the safest option for the campus and that he couldn’t wait to vote for it.
Considering grade flow, board member Laurene McCoy worried about eighth graders interacting with first graders, as the two would share bathroom space.
Superintendent Jennifer Loftus said that it was something that the district would need to be cognizant of if Option 6 was chosen—eighth graders will act like eighth graders, just as first graders act like first graders, and there’s nothing they could do about it, she said.
Board member Nathan Williams said he wanted to “play the devil’s advocate,” noting that campus flow was just as important as traffic flow.
“If we are going to discuss this let’s have a discussion about everything,” he said.
After some deliberation, the board unanimously approved Option 6 prompting cheers from the audience.
Construction is anticipated to start in March 2026 and be completed by November. Δ
This article appears in Apr 3-13, 2025.