Renovated Marine View Middle School in Huntington Beach holds reopening ceremony

Andrew Estrada couldn’t help but smile as he explained the benefits of the new art laboratory at Marine View Middle School in Huntington Beach on Monday afternoon.

Estrada has been a teacher at Marine View for 22 years, and now his students finally have the space to create in a larger setting than just his classroom.

“I taught social studies and art in the same room all of those years,” Estrada said. “Then they were like, ‘We’re going to build you a room. We’re going to make this more real.’”

The art lab was just one of the many improvements to the Ocean View School District campus, which has reopened after undergoing $26 million worth of renovations funded by Measure R.

Sara Schaible, left, the principal of Marine View Middle School, City Council member Natalie Moser and Mayor Kim Carr tour the reopened school on Monday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

The district held a reopening ribbon cutting ceremony Monday, attended by district officials including Supt. Carol Hansen and Board of Trustees President Patricia Singer, Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr and City Councilwoman Natalie Moser.

Tours were offered of the Marine View campus, which also features a new science lab, wood shop, media center, dance studio and kitchen.

The new facilities support the Visual and Performing Arts program and many other electives.

“It’s amazing,” said Marine View Principal Sara Schaible, in her fourth year in that role and sixth year overall at the school. “My first year here was the year that Measure R passed [in 2016], so to be a part of it from the start … and then seeing it come to fruition, I’ve been blessed to be a part of this whole process. To see kids come on campus and see their reaction, the excitement, I think it’s transpired into how they carry themselves day to day. They have pride in their education, their school and their community.”

Officials with the Ocean View School Board and city of Huntington Beach cut a ribbon at the newly reopened Marine View Middle School on Monday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

Murals with a nod to the school’s nautical name and other iconic Huntington Beach locations now adorn the front exterior of the campus and the hallways.

Marine View Assistant Principal Julie Nichols, who led one of the tours, said some of the school’s 555 students have remarked to her that the campus now feels like a college campus.

Hansen said everything inside each of the Marine View building shells was demolished as part of the renovations.

“The classrooms are designed in such a way to promote hands-on learning and collaboration with peers,” she said. “In addition, these classrooms have been adorned with some beautiful new furniture that has a flexible design and allows for multiple configurations and maximum student engagement. We are so proud of this beautiful school and the exciting learning opportunities it provides our students.”

Ledesma and Meyer Construction Co. and DLR Group architecture oversaw the renovations for Marine View, Ocean View School District Public Information Officer Trish Montgomery said. Vista View Middle School, which is in Fountain Valley, is the next Ocean View School District school currently undergoing renovations with Measure R funds.

Marine View Middle School students in the dance program stretch as officials take a tour of the campus on Monday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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