CTE construction on Davis High campus

PHOTO: The construction necessitated cutting down 27 trees for the new CTE building.

By Corrine Holman-Evans & Grace Kishiyama,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Demolition started last week for the construction of Davis High’s new Career and Technical Education (CTE) buildings.

The new engineering building will be constructed at the corner of 14th and Oak Street, previously home to 27 trees that have just been cut down to accommodate the new construction. 

There are commitments to replace the 27 felled trees with at least 30 new ones. 

According to David Burke, executive director of capital operations for the district, the specific plans for the new trees have yet to be finalized. “We are still developing this plan. Taking care of the existing trees and planting new ones is extremely important to us,” he said.

Construction on the engineering building had been planned to start before March 2022 to avoid the nesting season of local birds, but operations began a bit later than anticipated. 

“We were delayed in removing the trees.  We had a consulting wildlife biologist perform a site visit right before the trees were removed to ensure there were no nesting birds in the trees,” Burke said.

In the meantime, demolition for the agriculture building on the north side of campus has forced agriculture classes into new classrooms. Some of these transitions have been difficult.

The animal science class is currently in S-04, which is usually the Chinese classroom.

“It’s definitely been an adjustment for us especially since the week before and after spring break we were helping (our teacher) get ready to move,” senior Natasha Hazel said. 

Furthermore, having to accommodate two different subjects into the same classroom has crowded the space.  

“Now that we’re in the classroom it’s super tight on space because there’s so much stuff in that room plus our teacher’s stuff,” Hazel said.

Though they were able to bring a lot of the hands-on equipment with them to the new classroom, Hazel said that the change in classrooms disrupted the routine of the class. 

“We aren’t able to do as much group work like discussing, which we used to spend a lot of time doing,” Hazel said. 

With two areas of campus under construction, the sounds of tractors and bulldozers can be heard from most of the classes along Oak. To combat this disruption, there are plans in the works to mitigate noise distractions. 

“Noise mitigation will include sound blankets (in the Adult Education portable), scheduling to avoid activities like testing, etc,” Burke said. 

The noise and construction has been disruptive for auto shop classes. 

“Mr. Thayer has to be more alert in case something (goes) wrong because it’s so loud and noisy,” senior and autoshop student Younes Chantit said. 

Since construction on the agriculture building is located right next to the auto shop, the class has had to navigate equipment issues as well.  

“One of our air compressors is out of service because it’s outside where the construction is,” Chantit said. 

Other major projects expected at DHS in the next two years include a large STEM building and a new Aquatic Center. These structures are expected to replace three tennis courts and 10 portable buildings respectively.