A new Santa Fe High School central administration building has been approved for construction as part of a larger project designed to make the school’s campus more secure.
Members of the Santa Fe Board of Education have unanimously signed on to allocating just over $10 million for the new structure.
That building will replace an existing administration facility now set for demolition.
School officials say their goal is to create a tighter campus, with the new building located deeper into the interior of the school’s complex space.
The administration project is part of a larger district-wide effort to improve security at all of the Santa Fe public school facilities.
In October the New Mexico State Legislature announced that it was allocating some $46 million over the next four years for similar school facility security projects across the state.
Located at 2100 Yucca Street, the Santa Fe High School has an enrollment of around 1,500 students.
While past students have enjoyed the open feel of the school’s nearly 100-acre campus, school officials say it is just that openness and the largeness of the campus that makes it more vulnerable to an outsider intrusion.
Other aspects of the security enhancement project will eventually see the school’s current cafeteria space moved closer to the campus courtyard.
The campus is centered by a u-shaped series of buildings, some of which are interconnected, surrounding the open courtyard.
Work on the new administration building is expected to begin later this spring, with a fall 2020 completion date.
The larger high school compound was opened in early 1966 as a complex with 48 classrooms and the current administrative building.
By Garry Boulard
