Proposed Plan

1. Construct a Performing Arts Center with a large stage, theater seating, lighting capability, sound system, dressing rooms, storage and a modern stagecraft construction area. The lobby of the PAC would be used as an art gallery to showcase student projects. The parent committee has made field trips to Woodcreek, Folsom, Hiram Johnson and Mira Loma high schools to consider different approaches to the building design and better understand what would make an excellent visual and performing arts center facility. A 500- to 600-seat theater is required to meet the expected audience size for a facility that will draw patrons from the local community as well as the student body.
2. Working with architects, the “footprint” of the facility will fit, more or less, where the tennis courts are currently located and will include the facility and some additional parking. Building the VPAC on the current tennis court site allows it to be close to the main school campus buildings. The VPAC would be used daily for classes and rehearsals and, therefore, needs to be within five minutes' walking distance for faculty and students moving from class to class.
3. Design and build a new tennis court facility to replace the “Butler Building” and its parking lot, just south of the current tennis courts. The design could include restrooms and a snack bar to make the south west corner of the campus user-friendly.

Two factors must be considered when looking at a timeline for this project: first, the cost of such a facility will be large. The parent group has estimated the final cost may top $10 million. Ways to reduce cost are being looked into, but the expense will undoubtedly be higher than what the district may be able to invest in a PAC. Fundraising projects need to be organized and calendared. Second, because of the infrastructure of building codes and governmental construction management, the process—once approved at the site and district levels—will take time. As the parent group has understood, this is a project that is going to take several years to complete.


To accomplish this project, we need several things:

• We need your enthusiasm to be enduring;
• We need your patience as we work our way through the maze of approvals still necessary to get this project to its next stages;
• We need people to share the vision and the dream with others, including those who want to be a part of such an endeavor;
• We need you to understand that, most likely, no student currently at El Camino will be using the Performing Arts Center while still a high school student. Your children may not be a part of this, when it begins. But we ask that you get involved anyway, because something worth doing is worth sharing with those who can benefit when the work is done and the dust has cleared.

“El Camino High School has been standing since 1950,” said Mr. Stockdale. “When it began, no one dreamed of things like Computer-Assisted Drafting, Advanced Placement classes, AVID, the Eagle Polytechnic Institute or KYDS Radio. Water Polo, Soccer, Volleyball and women’s sports were not yet in sight. And the term “Fundamental” had not been applied to any school anywhere. Yet the efforts of individuals, working together through the years, have created these everyday things that we—students, parents, teachers—enjoy every day at El Camino. Think how we can leave another legacy to those coming quickly behind us even now, by establishing a Visual & Performing Arts Center at El Camino Fundamental High School. Come join in!”