68th Street Multi-Purpose Athletic Facility
Looking forward into May, the construction of the sand volleyball courts will continue, as well as the walking/exercise path. The ornamental iron fencing will come down, be repainted, and be reinstalled in its new location pushed back away from the parking lot. Anticipated project completion remains to be mid-July.
Capital Planning
We still want to hear from you ‒ all of you! The district’s Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) efforts are complete, and we would like to start sharing information with our teachers, students, parents and community. Knowing that the school year is ending and that there are so many activities to participate in, efforts to get out and into our schools to speak with everyone will continue through the summer and ramp up in earnest in the fall, when our students return to our campuses.
We want to know what is important about your facilities. How can we make them better, healthier, safer, and the best learning and working environments for our students and our teachers? Please keep an eye out for upcoming events to learn more about the Capital Planning Process and opportunities to provide your feedback.
68th Street Multi-Purpose Athletic Facility: Ready, set, DIG …
On February 11th, the Scottsdale Unified School District’s Governing Board authorized the administration to move forward with the construction of the 68th Street (Old Tonalea) Multi-Purpose Athletic Facility. Our designers, DLR Architects, and our contractor, Willmeng Construction, have put the final touches on the construction planning. With dust control permit in hand, Willmeng will begin the dirt work portion of the project: preparing the area where the volleyball courts will be located and digging out the area where the stormwater retention area will be. Ready, set, DIG … both a volleyball and a construction reference!
April 1st (no fooling!) will be our first day of construction activities on the 68th Street property. We anticipate a 16-week construction schedule, which means we should be wrapping the first phase of this project the 3rdweek of July. Feel free to follow the project’s progress on the Facilities Department’s website.
Facility Rentals
Over the years, many of our PTOs/PTAs/APTs, boosters, coaches, and community members have interacted with Lisa Marcarelli. When it came to facility rentals, she was the ONE! Effective April 3rd, Lisa is kicking up her heels and calling it a wrap. After years of dedicated service to SUSD and the SUSD Community, Lisa will be retiring from her Facility Rentals position. With this transition we are making only one significant change. Moving forward, all email communications must be directed to Facility Rentals at facilityrentals@susd.org.
Thank you, Lisa, for your time, talents, and treasures. You will be missed.
Capital Planning Hits the Road Soon!
We want to hear from you ‒ all of you! The district’s Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) efforts are nearly complete, and we would like to start sharing information with our teachers, students, parents and community. We recently shared with Scottsdale Parent Council and the Student Advisory Board that we would like to take our Capital Planning roadshow to the people.
School, by school, learning community by learning community, we want to hear from each of you. We want to know what is important about your facilities. How can we make them better, healthier, safer, and the best learning and working environments for our students and our teachers? Please keep an eye out for upcoming events to learn more about the Capital Planning Process and opportunities to provide your feedback.
68th Street – Multi-Purpose Athletic Facility
After months of planning and design and two community meetings, Phase I of this project will go before the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board for consideration on February 11 at 6 p.m. at Coronado High School. The scope of work for Phase I will include but not be limited to parking lot improvements, storm water management improvements, eight new sand volleyball courts, a walking/exercise path, and natural turf improvements. The roof of the building has been replaced, and the exterior of the building has already been painted.
Capital Planning in Process
In October 2024, the Scottsdale Unified School District’s Governing Board approved the expenditure to conduct a Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) for all district buildings. This assessment will help us build a 10-year Capital Plan. This assessment will identify all SUSD building systems needs, such roofing, painting, flooring, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and restroom improvements. What this assessment won’t provide for us are the enhancements that our students, staff, parents, and community would like to see for our school buildings.
In the coming months, the Administration will be creating opportunities - both during the school day and in the evenings - to meet with as many of our stakeholders as we possibly can. These opportunities will be used to provide information and solicit input about our District’s facilities. Please stay tuned … we look forward to hearing from all of our District’s stakeholders.
68th Street Property Update
SUSD Building Services is working with Phoenix-based Willmeng Construction, Tempe civil engineering firm Bowman and architects from the DLR Group to bring new life and purpose to the former Tonalea Elementary School site at 68th Street and Oak in south Scottsdale.
The preliminary plan for the multi-purpose recreational, athletic and community project was shared at a Nov. 19 public meeting at Coronado High School, attended by about 25 interested citizens. Building Services Director Dennis Roehler reviewed the estimated $1.2 million proposal for the audience. The project would be paid for with revenue SUSD receives from facility rentals. The proposal will head to the SUSD Governing Board for approval in early 2025.
Take a look at the project here - PDF.
PTO Project @ Desert Mountain
Building Services recently assisted the Desert Mountain High School PTO in upgrading the school’s outdoor reflection area. The idea for the project came from DM’s former principal, Dr. Lisa Hirsch, and was completed by Dennis Roehler’s outstanding Facilities team.
The bench bears a comforting inscription from American poet Isla Paschal Richardson:
If I should ever leave you ...
Grieve not / Nor Speak of me with tears,
But laugh & talk of me
as if I were beside you there...
Thank you, DMHS PTO and Building Services, for providing a lovely space where our Wolves can catch their breath and take a break from their busy lives for a few moments when they need it.
SUSD Governing Board Approves Facility Condition Assessment Project
On October 1, the Scottsdale Unified School District’s Governing Board approved the expenditure of funds to hire Bureau Veritas Technical Assessment LLC to perform a comprehensive, district-wide Facility Condition Assessment, or FCA.
When Scottsdale Unified School District taxpayers approved a $229 million Class B Bond initiative in November 2016, that initiative was the culmination of another FCA. In the past nearly eight years, SUSD has rebuilt 6 elementary schools, added security measures to all our front offices, added security cameras, replaced fire alarm systems at several campuses, replaced natural turf with synthetic turf at each of the high school stadiums, built the Innovation Center at Saguaro High School, and completed nearly 500 other projects, both big and small, throughout our district.
Now, in 2024, it is time once again to reassess our facilities and determine what might be next. We are very proud of our Scottsdale school facilities and want to continue to provide the best possible facilities for our students, staff, and community for years to come.
For those of you who have been in Scottsdale for a while, you may find it hard to believe that our high schools that were rebuilt in 2007-2008 are now approaching 16 years old. For example, Desert Mountain HS, which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary this year, is very much in need of some system improvements.
This new FCA project will consider every building on every campus and all the building systems within our campuses. While the 2016 Bond took care of rebuilding our oldest elementary schools, the need to update our facilities is never-ending. Advances in building security, Central Plant (heating and cooling) equipment replacements, academic space improvements, fire alarm replacements, landscaping, and parking lot improvements all must be considered. With nearly 4,000,000 square feet under roof and 600 acres of developed land, such an assessment is a monumental task. It is a task that will require input and support from all our Building Services staff, our building administrators, our staff, students, parents, and community members.
This project is anticipated to take 8-10 months to complete. There will come a time in the months to come when we will seek input from our stakeholders to ensure that we are working to meet the needs of our entire Scottsdale community. We are very much looking forward to this effort and look forward to interacting with all of you. We can’t elevate excellence in the classroom without elevating excellence in our facilities.
Dennis Roehler
Director of Building Services