SAN DIEGO (KUSI)- The San Diego Unified School District is forging ahead with plans to update and modernize its schools. On Tuesday, the SDUSD school board formally approved project plans for Measure YY which was passed by voters last month.

To show reporters how the bond money will be spent, we were invited to tour a middle school in Clairemont. Innovations Middle School lives up to its name, in reflecting the latest innovations in school design. The school district’s top priority is to renovate and sometimes replace older school buildings that have exceeded their useful life.

On our tour, Lee Dulgeroff, the head of the district’s facilities, planning and construction department shows us a typical classroom which has the digital capabilities to support a student population
that does most of its learning through computers and other electronic devices.

“We have a fiber optic backbone that runs at 10 gigabits per second and a really robust wireless network. It’s costly to provide the backbone but we believe it’s an investment well made because it’s so integral to learning today,” Dulgeroff said.

On another part of the campus, we visit a technical education classroom, where students get hands-on experience with computer coding and making objects by using laser cutters and 3-D printers. A dirt lot outside the building is a work in progress.

The school bond money will pay for the creation of a grassy park area, which can be used by community members before or after school and on weekends.

In a joint use agreement, the school district pays for the land and the city covers the maintenance, so the benefits of using the park can be shared by students and by people in the neighborhood.

Measure YY will also pay for upgrades to school security and ensuring lead-free drinking water in the schools.

The improvements are planned for faclities throughout the district and Dulgeroff said no school will be overlooked.

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