RICHMOND — Following years of complaints, a legal filing and eventual closure, a construction team has been chosen and a budget set to rebuild Stege Elementary School.
Alten Construction, a Richmond development firm behind a number of projects across the Bay Area, has been selected to rebuild the 81-year-old building that was shuttered over the summer due to disrepair. The campus at 4949 Cypress Ave. is the oldest in the district, first built in 1943, and has seen about 250 students roam its halls in recent years.
That was until this summer.
Parents were notified in July that the school would be closed for the 2024-25 school year after repair work revealed “environmental hazards,” according to a July 23 district letter. As a result, students were bussed to nearby DeJean Middle School where a separate campus was created for the elementary school students, according to a July 24 district letter.
“Your dedication and cooperation are greatly appreciated as we work to ensure a smooth transition for our students and maintain a supportive learning environment,” read the July 23 letter signed by former Superintendent Kenneth Hurst, informing the community of the closure and relocation of students.
A meeting held shortly after those letters were sent further exposed poor conditions at the campus: extreme temperatures in classrooms, single-stall toilets overflowing with sewage, exposed wires, missing fire extinguishers, infestation of pests, a cafeteria without sanitary sinks and possible asbestos.
Parents and teachers had been complaining for years about conditions at the school and a lack of staffing, including in a legal filing in July and three legal “Williams” complaints filed with the California Department of Education in February. In each of the complaints, parents and educators asserted the district was violating students’ rights by failing to properly maintain campuses and retain staff.
District trustees expressed their commitment to repairing the school in a resolution during a meeting on Dec. 18, the same meeting in which the agreement with Alten Construction was approved.
In the resolution, trustees recognized the diverse breakdown of the campus, which serves the largest number of Black students in the district.
Of the student body population, 36.3% were African American, 37.6% Hispanic, 8.6% Asian, 7.3% White and 6.5% were two or more races, according to the California Department of Education. About 83% of students were also considered socioeconomically disadvantaged, according to state data.
“This is about equality. And as I stand here I believe two things to be true: if the students of Stege were not Black and brown, the school would have never deteriorated, and even now this would not be an issue,” said Rev. Willie McDaniel, president of the El Cerrito NAACP Chapter and pastor of Saint Peters Methodist Church, which neighbors the elementary school. “This is not an issue of funds. This is an issue of will.”
The total cost of the project is estimated to be about $61 million, an $18 million increase from the $43 million budget previously approved by the board. Melissa Payne, interim associate superintendent of facilities, said the $18 million funding gap will be filled in part by money left over from other completed district projects that finished under budget.
Additional state funding is also being sought out, she said during the Dec. 18 meeting. Students are expected to return to the campus by the fall of 2027, Payne said.
“There are other opportunities for funding and we’re exploring all of them,” Payne said. “There are so many needs in our community and we want to bring as many dollars as we can here to West Contra Costa.”