Summer construction projects underway at Merced schools

Merced City School District is starting facility projects now that the school year has ended.

The projects are funded through Measure M, which voters approved in 2014, according to district officials.

Construction crews are building a new parking lot at Chenoweth Elementary off of Teak Avenue. The new parking lot will improve access and safety when students are dropped off and picked up from school.

Chenoweth also will get two new basketball courts, new playground equipment, new water-efficient landscape and irrigation, and security gates and fencing. Classrooms, restrooms, heating and air conditioning systems, and fire alarms will get upgrades as well.

At Burbank Elementary, work is underway to create new, safer parking off of Alexander Avenue. The bus loading zone also will be improved, along with an upgraded blacktop play area with basketball, volleyball and tether ball courts.

Infrastructure improvements also are being made at Hoover Middle School, which was built in 1950. Heating, ventilating and cooling equipment that is decades old is being removed and replaced with newer, efficient units. Several restrooms also are being remodeled.

Work on the new preschool at Rivera Elementary School also is beginning and is scheduled to be completed in the fall. It will be the final addition to the district’s newest elementary school, which opened to kindergarten through sixth grade in 2015.

A districtwide safety and security camera system project also is nearing completion. It will provide surveillance cameras for every school and support facility to ensure the safety of students, staff and visitors.

Other notable projects include a new metal roofing system for parts of Tenaya Middle School, Cruickshank Middle School and John Muir Elementary.

This story was originally published June 6, 2016 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Summer construction projects underway at Merced schools."