On November 5th, 2024, a $46 million dollar bond was passed to make improvements to Hughson High School. The city of Hughson and surrounding communities such as Gratton, Hickman, and Roberts Ferry voted for the bond with 60% approval. The planned projects that are to come include improving classrooms and other facilities at the high school.
Since the bond was only approved at the end of last year, the plans will not be done for a while. It takes several months to get funding and the plans in place after the bond is passed. Adding on to that, the school is not prepared to be fully remodeled for some years. Brenda Smith, the superintendent of Hughson Unified School District, stated, “We have three complete phases and hope to be completed within five years.” The plan is to begin phase one in the summer and go from there.
There are three phases in total for this project. Phase one is to remodel the current classrooms. Superintendent Smith stated, “About 20 classrooms and our current bathroom facilities in the 10, 30, and 40 wings will be remodeled with new walls, windows, carpeting, etcetera.” They will also be replacing leaking roofs, air conditioners, and old heating.
Phase two will be building a new agricultural department and science classrooms. It will be built where the current agricultural department resides. Phase two also includes making improvements to the Husky stadium by replacing the bleachers, bathrooms, snack bar, and press box. New grass and irrigation will also be added to the football and soccer fields.
Phase three will modernize the school farm, moving the transportation department and district office to the school farm. Student parking may be renovated as well, “hopefully adding in more student parking,” as said by superintendent Smith.
Hughson continues to grow, so therefore these new developments will help the school adapt to the increasing population. More students also means more staff, so additional teachers will be hired to accommodate the expanding community. Smith said, “Over the past five years, Hughson High School has increased by about 250 students. We have added in staff as needed to handle the growth.” It can be expected that Hughson will continue to improve as the student body grows in size, so will the school itself.
The bond that was passed by the community will be a tremendous help for not only the school, but the staff and students as well. It can only get better from here as the plans are being set in place. The community awaits the outcome and will continue to witness a growing school better itself for the well being of its students. The future is looking very bright for Hughson High.
