Montgomery High School celebrates breaking ground on new classrooms

The smell of freshly churned soil wafted over the small crowd of students, teachers and administrators who gathered Wednesday at the site of a new two-story classroom building at Montgomery High School.

As excavators prepared the grounds of the former parking lot behind the school and celebrations for the long-awaited building commenced, students and teachers reflected on the progress since the start of the last school year.

At the time, students were experiencing raw sewage leaking into their hallways and science classrooms. Bathrooms were disgusting. Sidewalks were cracked, and portable classrooms were infested with dry rot.

The conditions were the result of years of deferred maintenance at the district’s second oldest high school. Vandalism and lack of funding also played a role, district officials said at the time.

The new building has been on the drawing board since 2019, but construction was delayed by the pandemic and other higher priority health and safety projects, including a roof replacement, according to Vanessa Wedderburn, the district’s spokesperson.

The new building, estimated to cost $27.5 million, is fully funded by Measure C bond dollars, which Santa Rosa voters approved in 2022. It will have 17 classrooms, two science labs, all-access gender neutral restrooms and an art display area in the main lobby.

In February 2023, Jim LaFrance, a veteran math and associated student body (ASB) teacher, expressed doubt that the new building would ever be built, noting that teachers and students had been pleading for better conditions for years.

He encouraged his associated student body members to take action. After feeling ignored by the district, student leaders contacted the Press Democrat, which wrote about the conditions in February, 2023.

“I said, ‘You guys, if you don't take this on, what students are?’” LaFrance said. “And they stepped up.”

A few days after that story was published, Montgomery made news for a different reason. On March 1, 2023, Jayden Pienta, a 16-year-old student was fatally stabbed by another student on campus during an altercation.

“A kid came to our school in the morning and didn't go home, because of things that were happening on campus that we knew about,” LaFrance said, growing emotional. “We saw the signs.”

LaFrance, who expressed regret for not having raised his voice louder about the ongoing safety issues, says he sees the new building as part of a new chapter for the school.

“For this for me is a chance of a rebirth,” he said. “I still feel like Montgomery has good bones. There's people in this community that care about the school.“

After Pienta’s death, many students, teachers and parents channeled their fear and grief into advocating for improved safety, including increased adult supervision, school resource officers and better facility conditions.

Today, the bathrooms have been replaced by brand new ones. The sewage issue is fixed. Hanging wires have been repaired. The portable classrooms still exist, but will no longer be needed soon.

There was worry that all the momentum would slow, and that worry still exists.

“We want this to be the start of positive momentum that's going to keep these improvements and this positive attention at Montgomery going,” said Addison Klosevitz, 17, a senior and ASB member. “We’re going to continue advocating, and this is super exciting, but we don’t want it to be like ‘OK, all done now.”

“This is a massive win for Montgomery,” said Bella Clark, 18, an ASB member. “It’s cool to see such a drastic change, and it’s cool that the negative stuff has been recognized, but it’s being recognized with more positive stuff.”

The student leaders agreed that they’re grateful, but they hope this win doesn’t overshadow the needs that still exist.

Xander Newman, a 17-year-old ASB member, emphasized they need to see district officials follow through on their promises to Montgomery students and staff, which includes support for school staff and attention to school safety issues, including a pilot school resource officer program.

Principal April Santos, in an interview with the Press Democrat Wednesday, reflected on the conditions last year, stating that the upgrades were needed to create a learning environment where students can feel good in.

“The perseverance of not only just the staff in the district, but the student leadership stepping up, and having a voice and discussing … the reality of what they were dealing with, was pretty awesome,” she said. “They were very good advocates. And they also went about the right part of the process.”

Superintendent Anna Trunnell also thanked the support of the community in a speech at the groundbreaking.

“Today marks a true testament to our commitment to ensuring that Montgomery High School and other schools in our district see progress,” she said. “We cannot do this work without the support of our community and all of you. And so this is an example of us bringing to life the things that we said we were going to do, and it's been a long time coming.”

The project is expected to be complete in 18 months, which means that the student government leaders won’t get to use the classrooms; however, they’re excited for the future generations.

“We don't get to reap the benefits of this,” said Delaney Detrick, 18, an ASB member. “But our a lot of our siblings will, and every student in the future.”

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter,) @alana_minkler.