GILROYAfter nearly a decade without a permanent home in Morgan Hill, Voices College-Bound Language Academy broke ground in Morgan Hill last week on a new public charter school.
Voices is a network of dual-immersion schools in English and Spanish, with five locations throughout Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties. The network primarily serves Latino, low-income and English learning students, with the aim of providing early college preparedness and helping close the achievement gap for Latino students.
Though the academy has been in Morgan Hill since 2015, it has not had their own building since its inception. The Morgan Hill school serves 291 kindergarten-to-eighth-grade students from the city and surrounding areas. Currently, those students are spread across multiple locations, including a church and a community center.
“The new Morgan Hill building is possible because of the powerful strength of our community, and I am excited to see what we can achieve together now and for future generations,” said Aldo Ramírez, CEO of Voices College-Bound Language Academies in a press release.
The groundbreaking on Sept. 29 was attended by school officials, as well Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner and other city council members, students and parents.
“Seeing the parents and kids there and seeing their excitement to have their own facility – that’s number one,” said Servando Sandoval, chair of Voices board of directors.
The completed school will feature eighteen classrooms, a garden, and two playgrounds tailored to younger and older students. The project will cost an estimated $23 million, with around $1.5 million coming from a new market tax credit and the rest from philanthropic donors. Construction is expected to be finished in the summer of 2024.
Source: www.mercurynews.com