San Benito to build $7.8M ‘green' elementary
LA PALOMA — School’s going green in the fastest growing part of the San Benito school district, officials said.
The district will build a $7.8 million elementary school whose solar panels and “green” design will make it a model campus in the Rio Grande Valley, said Oscar Medrano, the school board’s president.
“This is a first for us,” Medrano said. “It will be a magnet for other districts in the Valley.”
A $37 million bond issue passed in 2007 will pay for construction of the school to be built on FM 732, about three miles north of La Paloma, officials said.
The 70,000-square-foot school will relieve overcrowding at La Paloma Elementary School in the district’s fastest growing area, Medrano said.
“It’s going to be a beautiful school — a state-of-the-art facility with a green theme to save energy,” he said. “Working on this project will move us to more projects like it in the future.”
Officials plan a Thursday groundbreaking ceremony to launch a construction project that will open the campus for the 2011 school year.
The school will feature solar panels to power the campus’ water heating system, said Hector Garcia, an architect with the Mata-Villarreal-Garcia Design Group in McAllen, the firm that designed the building.
“That’s the wave of the future,” Superintendent Antonio Limon said of the school’s green design. “That’s the trend of the construction industry, not only in schools.”
Domed solar fixtures will light up parts of the school, Garcia said.
In other areas, a high efficiency lighting system will cut electric costs by as much as 20 percent, he said.
“All of these (features) will give the school savings throughout its lifetime,” Garcia said.
Tanks will catch rainwater that the school will use to irrigate landscape native to Texas, he said.
“The idea is to use little or no water or use rainwater,” he said.
Insulated glass, a metal roof and a reflective exterior finish will help deflect heat from the building cooled by a high efficiency air conditioning system, Garcia said.
Officials said they haven’t projected savings.
The campus, which will feature an outdoor science lab and butterfly garden, will become a learning experience for its students, Medrano said.
“This is going to really get the kids interested in learning how to save energy,” he said.
