AMG & Associates Inc., an award-winning Santa Clarita-based construction company, is set to break ground on the Valley View Community School Modernization + New Addition project for Santa Clarita’s Sulphur Springs Union School District.
The $13.2 million project will include additions and renovations to the school’s 38,000-square-foot administration building, as well as the construction of a new two-story facility.
Valley View is one of the SSSD’s nine comprehensive education school sites that provides a general education program for all students and additional targeted services for a variety of community needs: an educational program and specialized services for severely disabled students, intervention programs for at-risk students, and before/after school childcare programs. The school also serves as a distribution center for the Summer Meal program for families that do not have adequate food when school is not is session.
Expected to be complete by June 30, 2016, the new addition will replace a 40-year-old annex that serves severely handicapped and medically fragile students from the District and Santa Clarita Valley. It will also include an updated library and new classrooms to replace the aging portable classrooms. The new building will be named the Tommye D. Warner Annex in honor of the late Ms. Tommye D. Warner, a long-time school psychologist and director of special education in the SSSD. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held on Friday, May 1, at 1:45 p.m., at Valley View Community School, 19414 West Sierra Estates Drive in Newhall.
“Valley View continues to provide outstanding education to regular and special education students. The new building that is being built to support our special education students as well as our regular education will continue to strengthen and enhance learning in the classrooms,” says Dr. Catherine Kawaguchi, SSSD Superintendent. “Special education staff is looking forward to moving into the new building so that they have access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to support their special needs children.”
The entire project is slated to conclude in early April 2017, and will also include the addition of fire sprinklers; new parking; demolition of relocatable classrooms; upgraded utilities; a new elevator; and new play areas, which families and community groups use for personal enjoyment and/or youth sports outside of school hours.
“The Valley View Community School project is AMG’s 99th project, an important milestone in our company’s history,” says Albert Giacomazzi, AMG’s President and CEO. “It is gratifying to know that our work will benefit the District’s special needs’ students and the entire community in such a meaningful way.”
AMG and the SSSD enjoy a strong working relationship. “As Superintendent, I have attended each of the construction meetings and have seen that AMG & Associates and PSWC- Architecture Planning Interior Design Group are here to support our children, and want to ensure that our staff and children are safe during construction,” Kawaguchi says. “They are both focused on working to build beautiful facilities to support learning.”
Adds Lynn David, SSSD Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, “Our experience with AMG & Associates thus far shows that the company desires to work collaboratively and respond to the unique needs of Valley View School. AMG & Associates is locally owned with the owner and project supervisor living within the Sulphur Springs School District Boundaries, so the company is familiar with the needs and priorities of the District and community.”
AMG will also serve the Santa Clarita Valley through a $200,000 project to upgrade both the North Oaks Park Pool in Canyon Country and the Valencia Glen Park Pool in Valencia, just in time for the summer season.
AMG is spearheading other important projects across California, including a $1.2 Mil. upgrade to the San Bernardino Juvenile Delinquency Court building for the County of San Bernardino and a $2.2 Mil. kitchen renovation at the Greater Los Angeles Ventura County, or GLAVC, Veterans Home of California in Los Angeles for the State of California.
“The value of building state-of-the-art facilities to educate elementary school children, help young individuals turn their lives around, and serve Veterans young and old cannot be overstated,” Giacomazzi says. “It’s a privilege to be able to work on projects that benefit people of all ages and walks of life throughout California.”
