Magnet School Given Extra Cash for Renovation
McPherson Magnet School, one of the Orange Unified School District’s most popular campuses, has received an emergency cash infusion to finish construction work.
District trustees last week agreed to spend $239,000 to rehabilitate the cafeteria, fix the heating in the school’s library and buy playground equipment, bringing the total cost of opening the campus to $2.3 million.
District administrators had initially estimated spending slightly more than $2 million.
The cost increase came from the pressure of opening a magnet school--focused on math, science and technology--in just two months, Supt. Robert L. French said.
The trustees decided last spring to convert the old McPherson Middle School into a magnet elementary school. Contractors began work in July.
The school accommodates a bursting school population and cost millions less than building a new one, Assistant Supt. David Perry said.
“We learned a lot opening this school,” Perry said.
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