First major Measure S construction brings new 45,000-square-foot student services, classroom building to longtime Rancho Cordova campus
RANCHO CORDOVA — Red shovels went into the dirt Tuesday at Cordova High School, marking the ceremonial start of a major transformation of one of Rancho Cordova’s longest-serving school campuses and the first major construction project to move forward under the community’s $144 million Measure S school bond.
Folsom Cordova Unified School District leaders joined students, educators, alumni and community officials at the Chase Drive campus for the groundbreaking of a new two-story student services and classroom building that will reshape the school’s front entrance and bring many of the services students now travel across campus to find under one roof.
The approximately 45,000-square-foot building is planned to house administration, counseling, mental health support, the college and career center, a new library and community resources, along with 13 classrooms and collaborative learning areas. Plans also call for a new entry plaza, reconfigured fencing and access points, replacement of exterior windows on existing classroom buildings and additional site improvements.
Construction began this summer after an initial phase that included providing interim portable classrooms and clearing the existing classroom Wing C. The project’s next phase includes demolition of the existing administration building as the new facility takes shape.
For a campus that has served generations of Rancho Cordova students, district leaders said Tuesday’s ceremony represented more than replacing aging buildings.
“This new Student Services Building will bring together so much of what helps the school feel like a home,” FCUSD Board President Jennifer Laret said.
Laret said her own effort to identify improvements needed at Cordova High eventually became a seven-page spreadsheet. Four of the major items on that list — the library, counseling offices, administrative offices and math classrooms — are being addressed through the project.
“Today, we put shovels in the ground, but what we are really building is opportunity, belonging, and a promise to the next generation of Cordova students,” Laret said.
The work is being funded through Measure S, the $144 million general obligation bond approved by voters in 2024 within School Facility Improvement District 4, which encompasses the Rancho Cordova portion of FCUSD. The measure is funding modernization work at existing secondary campuses in Rancho Cordova.
Cordova High is the first of the three schools identified by the district to move into construction under the program. Modernization projects at Mills Middle School and W.E. Mitchell Middle School remain in the planning stages.
Superintendent Erik Swanson thanked voters for making the investment possible and described Cordova High as an iconic Sacramento County campus whose character should remain recognizable even as its facilities are brought into a new era.
A classic-car enthusiast, Swanson compared the approach to what enthusiasts call a “restomod” — preserving the appearance and character of a classic automobile while giving it modern capabilities.
“What this building does for our opportunities for our students is it preserves the iconic representation of Cordova High School in this community and yet gives it the features for all of our students to appreciate and benefit from,” Swanson said.
Swanson said the project also supports a broader goal for Cordova High students: that graduates leave the district with dignity, agency and self-efficacy, as well as a plan for what comes next.
For Principal Amy Strawn, one of the most significant changes will be much more practical: students and families will have one identifiable place to go when they need help.
Currently, Strawn said, students must travel between buildings to reach many of the school’s support services. The new building will place administration, counselors, mental health supports, college and career services, the library and community resources together.
“It will be a hub for our campus,” Strawn said. “It will bring together our administration, counseling team, mental health supports, college and career center, library, and community resources all in one place under one roof.”
The building will also contain 13 new classrooms and collaborative spaces intended for students to learn in a more connected environment.
Renderings displayed during Tuesday’s ceremony showed a new campus entrance, open atrium, flexible learning areas and a media center envisioned as a gathering place.
At the same time, planners intentionally worked around a familiar piece of Cordova High history: the Redwood Grove alongside the construction area.
Strawn said preserving the trees became part of the design after the school community expressed the importance of maintaining them.
“There is something pretty powerful about that, growing and changing without forgetting our roots,” she said.
The project was designed by Lionakis and is being constructed by Otto Construction. FCUSD Chief Operating Officer Craig Rouse said completing a project of this scale on an active high school campus requires extensive coordination among district personnel, architects, contractors and school staff.
Rouse recognized members of the district’s facilities team, including Chris Anicich, a Cordova High alumnus who has worked on the project’s design, budget and schedule. He also recognized Monika Himmrich, a former principal whose decades of education experience helped the facilities team incorporate instructional needs into the building’s design.
Rancho Cordova Mayor Garrett Gatewood pointed back to the campaign that resulted in Measure S winning voter approval, crediting community volunteers who walked hundreds of homes and apartment complexes to explain the need for the investment.
Gatewood connected the school improvements with Rancho Cordova’s continued economic growth and its expanding technology sector, saying preparing students for the region’s future workforce requires modern educational facilities.
Sacramento County Supervisor Pat Hume similarly reflected on what generations of Cordova High graduates have gone on to accomplish and what could come from the students who eventually enter the new building.
“Without groundbreakings, you can’t have ribbon cuttings,” Hume said.
He noted that Cordova High alumni have gone on to become soldiers, musicians, artists, lawyers, doctors and community leaders, and pointed to Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Chief Adam House as fellow Lancers.
The groundbreaking itself blended the school’s past, present and future.
The morning opened with a performance by teacher Kevin Sims and the Cordova High drumline. Strawn delivered a land acknowledgment recognizing the Nisenan and Miwok peoples, followed by the presentation of colors by the Cordova High Junior Air Force JROTC color guard and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Students had a presence beyond the ceremony as well. Lancer stickers available to guests were created by students in Cordova High’s business academy, while engineering students produced commemorative key chains.
Representatives of federal and state elected officials presented certificates recognizing the milestone before district leaders, trustees, Strawn and Gatewood gathered at a row of red shovels and ceremonially turned the dirt.
The groundbreaking begins what district leaders described Tuesday as a new chapter for a campus whose history stretches across generations of Rancho Cordova families — one that will look noticeably different when construction is complete, but is being designed to retain the identity that has long made it Cordova High.
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