The sun was shining on Long Valley Charter School Friday afternoon, April 28th, as the school, after years of fighting to have a place to call home; the school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony finalizing the purchase of the school property in addition to breaking ground on a nearly two-million-dollar gymnasium.
Superintendent Sherri Morgan shared a bit of the school’s history. The building was built in 1968 as part of the Fort Sage Unified School District. In 2010 it was decided to close the school, yet parents and the community stood together to form a charter school. A USDA loan was obtained to build a new facility on land purchased opposite the freeway, but the district chose to sell the previous building to Long Valley. To that, Morgan proudly announced on March 30th that loan closed, making the facility their own.
Supervisor Jason Ingram called the momentous occasion a big step towards securing the success and future of the community and county. Excess funds from the purchase will fund a new 8100 sq ft gymnasium will be built. The gym will feature two classrooms and be set up for basketball and volleyball. Construction is expected to begin following the last day of school. Due to soil conditions, the top 4ft of ground must be removed and backfilled before the building can be constructed, extending the construction timeline.
Work is expected to be completed on the 1.9 million dollar gym by mid-November.
