Seventy-one years is a long time to wait for renovations, but the El Rancho High School community only has to wait five more months to get a first look at a $200 million project, officials said this week.
Superintendent Marco Villegas is getting ready to call done on a dream he said is long-held by students, families and residents.
Set to be open in April are a brand-new football stadium, already wreathed in Boise State Blue and white, only waiting for the track oval be built around it; sports fields for baseball and softball; soccer and track facilities as well as an aquatics center.
“The new field facilities at our high school represent more than just a space for sports; they are an investment in our students and our community,” said Kendall Goyenaga, principal at El Rancho. “These state-of-the-art fields provide our students with opportunities to develop their talents, skills, and foster school spirit.”
Villegas said the new facilities will also serve as a point of pride in the community.
The high school construction project is funded by Measure ER, a $200 million school construction bond approved by voters of the El Rancho Unified School District in 2016. It would be the first facilities improvement at the school since the school first opened its doors in 1952, according to Ester Mejia, president of the El Rancho Union School District board.
Generations of Dons wear the Blue Pride loudly, and alumni and students alike will find plenty to love, from a new Don Memorial Stadium with its blue football field, 5,000-seat bleachers, and press box, to the synthetic track and field and a new practice field and new basketball courts.
The project also includes new team rooms, locker rooms, restrooms, concessions, ticket booths, coach’s offices, storage spaces, a weight room, and a training room. There will be new scoreboards, sports lighting, outdoor sound systems, walkways, netting, fencing, and general site improvements.
The 33-meter pool will meet CIF regulations and will come with bleachers and a digital scoreboard. The parking lots around the area will be reconfigured and the fencing along the perimeter of the project will be upgraded for safety.
The new facilities can’t come soon enough for El Rancho’s football team. The Dons have been practicing off campus in the two years since ground-breaking. They are in the semi-finals this week and have an overall record of 8-4 and a league record of 2-2 so far.
“The first eight months (of construction) people didn’t really see anything except a lot of demolition, then in the next six to seven months it might have seemed like we were just moving dirt from one spot to another,” Villegas said. “But things were happening that just weren’t easy to see. These facilities are going to be second to none and goes a long way in showing we are one city, one district. This is just the beginning.”