New Building at San Diego Cooperative Charter School
Plus, What's Missing from Linda Vista?
A major Linda Vista construction project is nearing completion. The new building on the San Diego Cooperative Charter School campus—located at 7260 Linda Vista Road, at the corner of the Genesee intersection—is ready for students.
Many of our readers have noticed the construction while driving by on Genesee Avenue. The building reflects a smart, modern design that will serve as a major improvement for the appearance of the Linda Vista community. It adds to the new education related buildings in Linda Vista, to include those on the Francis Parker School campus, as well as the former Empower Carter School building (now a part of the San Diego County Office of Education) on Comstock Street.
We asked the school’s Executive Director—Ms Sarah Saluta—to fill us in on details of the new building. Here is what she had to say:
1. How many classrooms will the new building include?
The new building will house our 1-8 program, 16 classrooms. The middle section (the one with the windows on the Genesee side) is a two story Media center, conference rooms, and a few offices. The building also includes a state of the art science lab for student exploration and hands-on learning. Our Kindergarten and specials teachers teach in other buildings.
2. How big is the new building (i.e. square footage)?
The new building is 40,000sq feet.
3. How many levels/stories will the building consist of?
The building is only two stories.
4. Are there other special features (i.e. room functions, building design, energy efficiency, etc.) that you would like to mention about the building?
The buildings are smart designed with lighting that automatically adjusts to sunlight and a heating and air system that shut off if the doors are open for a certain amount of time.
The design was created to alleviate traffic from our school in the Linda Vista area with an enlarged pick-up and drop off zone and an exit onto Genessee.
Our philosophy of learning really focuses on hands-on activities, simulations and connecting their learning to the world around them. The campus has been created to allow for both indoor and outdoor spaces for meaningful learning.
In addition, our school believes in educating the whole child so our school offers dance, music, PE, art and gardening. These have all been important aspects of our design.
5. Will the new building include facilities for sports/physical activities?
Movement for kids is not only important but essential. We will have three basketball courts, two playgrounds, a soccer space, a gaga ball pit, and most importantly a large space for tag and tether ball.
6. How much does the new building cost?
Our entire remodel will be approximately $28,000,000.
7. When will the construction be finished and the building operational (i.e. open for students to attend)?
We have already had students on campus however they will be completely finished with this phase of construction within two weeks. We will be working on the remaining buildings on our campus in the next 4 years. It is going to be a really stunning campus when we are finished. We love being in and working with the families in Linda Vista and will continue to educate students here as long as possible.
8. When did construction begin?
Our planning for this building began four years ago but we broke ground in the spring of 2019.
9. What will happen to the current school building/classrooms?
We will continue to use all of our spaces. The next improvement will be an arts building that will include music and dance rooms as well as a stage to support all of our programs.
The final building will house our Kindergarten and administrative offices.
10. Once the building is completed, is the campus expected to include more students than currently enrolled?
Keeping our student population small is important to us. We like to know not only our kids well but also our families. We are a CoOp which means that we invite parents and families to be actively involved in their kid's education. If we were to grow our enrollment we fear we would lose the tight community that we work so hard to have. The small community is part of what makes us so special and what makes our SDCCS community so strong, both kids and adults feel like they are a part of something special.
11. Any other information you would like Linda Vista residents to know?
We love being involved with people and businesses in Linda Vista. Every year we celebrate the International Day of Peace in September. We sing and dance celebrating peace and equality and then take about a mile march through Linda Vista. We think it is important for our students to have the opportunity to stand up and say what they believe regarding peace, racial justice, and global warming. Our school is also the first in Southern California to create a rotary program for elementary students. This program works to give back to Linda Vista in many ways by community clean up, food and clothing drives, and the all-time favorite 500 sandwich making challenge.
Our school works hard to create empathetic young adults who are critical thinkers and will become future leaders. We are proud of the work we do and honored to serve the families of Linda Vista.
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The Linda Vista Update wishes to thank Ms. Saluta for taking the time to answer our questions.
Opinion Essay
What’s Missing from Linda Vista?
I finally figured it out. The mysterious notion had been bothering me for years. As I walked along our fine streets, I always sensed something was missing in Linda Vista. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
It took me awhile, but after months of observation and contemplation, I only recently figured out what kind of significant cultural feature has long been missing from our Linda Vista landscape. We have plaques, murals and parks recognizing the contributions of several notable individuals. Yet, none of them recognize famous San Diego athletes! For some reason, the Linda Vista community has failed to establish any special connection whatsoever with any San Diego athlete or team.
No doubt about it, sports plays a significant role in our country’s culture. We like rooting for our favorite teams and individual athletes. Even without the presence of the Chargers football team, San Diegans have been able to enjoy some relief from the pandemic by watching sports on TV. In fact, many of us recently took comfort in the resurgence of the Padres baseball organization as they completed a very successful season—a rare event for long suffering Padres fans.
I am confident many Linda Vistans happen to be big sports fans. I want to believe LV residents like to identify with popular San Diego teams and individual athletes. And yet, as evidenced by the streets of Linda Vista, there appears to have been no effort made over the years to establish some kind of LV community — San Diego sports connection
The absence of any sports recognition in Linda Vista was recently made apparent to me while visiting a couple of Mission Valley venues.
For example, a new mural at Civita Park features Tony Gwynn in one of the painting’s scenes (Junior Seau can be seen in the background). Everyone enjoys identifying with Tony Gwynn. He is Mr. San Diego—but you would never know it by walking around Linda Vista.
And then there’s the statue of famous UCLA and NBA great Bill Walton at the Mission Valley YMCA. He happens to be a member of the fitness center. That accounts for the Y connection. But I’m sure Walton once rode his bike through Linda Vista. If so, we could easily take advantage of this connection to erect our own statue (or really tall mural) of him somewhere in our community.
Now, I realize Linda Vista has a plaque recognizing Eleanor Roosevelt. Located at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Centre, the plaque commemorates her 1942 visit to LV. I searched the internet in an attempt to see if she was in any way connected to sports. Here is the only mention of sports in her Wikipedia bio…”Roosevelt was active with the New York Junior League shortly after its founding, teaching dancing and calisthenics in the East Side slums.” Yes, teaching dancing and calisthenics could be considered sports-like, but I think settling on the Eleanor Roosevelt plaque as evidence of a Linda Vista — sports connection is a bit of a stretch. No offense to Mrs. Roosevelt, but I think we can do better when it comes to sports.
In addition to these Mission Valley homages to San Diego athletes, there is also a new City Heights mural featuring Tony Gwynn. The mural is painted on the side of an MMA gym located on University Avenue. According to an internet news article, it depicts Gwynn from the 1987 season in which he batted a league leading .370 average.
I never thought I’d say this, but why can’t we be more like City Heights?
In order to establish that necessary Linda Vista — San Diego sports connection, I recommend we get to work on the planning of a mural or statue that honors a famous San Diego athlete. Since Gwynn and Walton are already taken, I recommend one of the following individuals:
1. Fernando Tatis—The young Padres shortstop is a budding superstar. If we get to work quickly, Linda Vista could be the first San Diego community to officially honor him. His dreadlocks would look interesting as depicted on a statue.
2. Tony Hawk—The famous skate boarder’s foundation helped to fund the construction of the popular Linda Vista Skateboard Park. A Tony Hawk statue, with him in an acrobatic skater pose seems very appropriate. It would have to be artfully done, of course, because we don’t want a repeat of the Cardiff Kook statue fiasco.
3. Phillip Rivers—The former Chargers quarterback will someday be in the Hall of Fame, and with his 9 kids, any of his family’s visits to see the statue would prove a boon to the local restaurant that hosted them for dinner.
Artists, community activists, sports fans…this is your call to action. Linda Vista and sports…a connection that can no longer be overlooked. Let the planning begin!
Foster Kittens Adopted
We are happy to report the two foster kittens featured in our December 29 post (https://lindavistaupdate.substack.com/p/pacific-heights-a-welcome-addition) were adopted by a Linda Vista Update reader!! Here is a photo of the two lucky kittens in their new abode, looking at the birds in the backyard.
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