San Marcos Unified School District will meet with parents Wednesday to discuss why the opening of its first elementary school is being delayed by four months.
Double Peaks Elementary was originally slated to open in August of this year but students will have to wait until January for the new school.
The school could have opened on time, but it would have cost the district $8 million more because of “overtime wages and double shifts,” said San Marcos School District spokeswoman Anna Lucia Roybal. “Money that can be used on other school projects.”
So far the entire project is costing San Marcos Unified more than $75 million. The district paid $10.5 million for the land and has a construction budget of $65 million.
Roybal said a combination of local and state bureaucratic challenges slowed the project.
“It took longer than we anticipated to get the Division of the State Architect to sign off on modifications to Double Peak’s design,” Roybal said.
The changes in design were because of easements from more than 50 landowners whose properties abut the school site.
When open, the kindergarten through eighth-grade school will have 1,200 students.
San Marcos Unified School District officials will meet with parents at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 11, inside San Elijo Middle School’s multi purpose room to discus the delay. The meeting is open to the public.
