RIPON – Deanna Shirlock is proud of the work at Colony Oak Elementary School.

She’s the projects manager of the Escalon-based building contractors, CT Brayton & Sons, Inc.

At Monday’s Ripon Unified school board meeting, Shirlock looked back at this voter-approved Measure G renovation efforts that broke ground in September 2017.

“We’ve basically completed Colony Oak,” she said in her updated report to the board.

The parking lot was just re-striped — the expanded space along the south end of campus can now accommodate 73 vehicles — and testing is scheduled on the draining system.

“Our next step is the [Division of State Architects] on the close out,” Shirlock said.

Board President Kit Oase announced that a dedication ceremony is scheduled at the newly renovated campus at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 12.

“It’s been a long haul,” said Shirlock. “I’m proud of this project.”

Looking back, the rebuilding process initially began in 2015, with the kindergarten classrooms being the first to be completed,

By last October, those youngsters moved into to their new digs.

The transition for the getting the other grade levels moved into their new classrooms occurred over the ensuing months, with that process being completed by December.

Besides the classrooms, the construction work also included the hook-up of new water wells and acquiring adjacent farm land — about three acres — that included some trees.

“We were able to save most of the trees,” said Andy Strickland, who is the district’s Director of Operations.

In addition, Shirlock noted that the finals stages of work at Colony Oak consisted of the demolition of the old portables, which she said had been done not too long ago.

 

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