For a school whose mascot is a beaver, the temptation is great to weave that critter and its qualities into an article on the re-creation of Will C. Wood Middle School. However, we shall try to avoid that and instead celebrate the new campus on Grand near Shoreline where on Friday, August 7, the red ribbon was cut, speeches were given, and tours showcased the new construction and modernization.
Like many schools in many towns Wood was an amalgamation of buildings linked more by proximity than design. There was the multi-story cube (later framed in steel after the 1989 earthquake), the neighborhood of portables on its left, and the multipurpose room on its right where lunch was prepared and served and plays and concerts were performed. Flanking that campus were sports fields and a spacious track familiar to many.
The new Wood Middle School is, frankly, gorgeous while still maintaining its utilitarian charm. For practical purposes, the MPR (multi-purpose room) was kept and refaced while next to it are new buildings for learning, studying, and playing. The cost was approximately 80 million dollars, paid for from Measure B funds approved by Alameda voters in 2022.
A walk of the campus revealed hoop and volleyball courts, inverted bike rack U’s awaiting cycles, and a beautiful central courtyard with paved walkways, raised concrete seats and an oasis of green turf. Multiple multiple-story buildings anchor the south side with looks similar to the new building on the Encinal campus (both projects were led by the same architect team). For many, the biggest glow came from the new gym, where polished hardwood floors and shiny backboards await the dribbles and shots of young athletes.
Attendees at the ribbon-cutting were a remarkable collection of City and school district dignitaries (the mayor, school board members), parents and their eager offspring checking out the new digs, and here and there occasional legendary educators roaming in awe of the new school. Older readers may recognize and rejoice in the following names: Hartwig, Ratto, Lopez, Knoth, and Sonneman.
For this reporter, the event had a very practical and symbolic quality. This is a mostly new school where, starting this week, kids will enter classrooms, sit at desks, and continue their adventures in learning. But if we step back a bit, the creation of Will C. Wood middle school literally stands as testimony to the magnificence and importance of this community, this city, and this country. It began when hired and elected district leaders made the decision to ask the voters to help fund the building of this school and other school projects around town. The voters said yes and 298 million dollars was raised from an increase in property taxes.
Those same hired and elected leaders were then entrusted with using those funds to fulfill the promise and improve the schools. Committees were formed, input was sought from teachers, parents, kids and citizens, plans were made, and then the construction began, overseen by those same school leaders. Myriad inconveniences were put upon the school community—they had to move to portables adjacent to the campus—not to mention the loud sound of pile driving echoing throughout the neighborhood. For a long time everything was at sixes and sevens.
But now there is a new school and it stands as a citadel and proof of the value and hope of perhaps our most sacred institution—education. And for years to come young people making that transition from childhood to young adulthood will do so on a campus built by the people for the people. Altogether it is an act of patriotism expressed at the most important location, locally.
Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players, a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane.
