With fanfare—including colorful balloons, a drumline and color guard—Alisal Union School District officials celebrated the groundbreaking of a new early learning center on Buckhorn Drive in Salinas on Friday, Sept. 22.
The project has been on the works for over 20 years when State Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, was the mayor of Salinas and the city secured $350,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and and Urban Development. The project is the product of cooperation among different organizations including AUSD, nonprofit developer CHISPA, the City of Salinas, nonprofits United Way Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, First 5 Monterey County, and more.
The project to build an early childhood education center was stalled for years and in 2015, talks to bring it fruition restarted when the HUD threatened to withdraw the grant. In 2018, design for the center started but construction was stopped because the district didn't own the property. In August of 2022, the City of Salinas transferred the 0.8 acres to AUSD, a critical step in moving the project forward.
The early education center will be for children ages 3 through pre-K, and special education. The district will offer students full-day instruction and care; the district is still working out what the schedule will look like.
The center will serve 96 students and will have five classrooms, two for special education. "The design of this project has been changed based on the input of the community," said AUSD Superintendent Jim Koenig at the groundbreaking. "We had a lot of interest in making sure that there was going to be special education programs included."
Construction started on Tuesday, Sept. 26. According to district officials, construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2024 and the center is set to open in 2025.