Construction is underway at Arvin High School on a new community school and parent center building that will expand resources for students, families, and the broader community.
The dirt lot currently visible near the school will be transformed into a dedicated space housing a food pantry, clothing closet, parent meeting rooms, and space for workshops and classes.
Principal Gabriel Ramirez-Leyva said the project has been years in the making, driven by ongoing conversations, persistent advocacy, and a comprehensive survey of parents and students about their greatest needs.
"It is our community school and parent center building. So that building will house a lot of our resources that we currently have on our campus, but now we have a bigger space that we're able to expand those. Some of those include all the services we provide our parents, parent meetings, parent workshops, but also through our community school, we're able to provide things like clothing, closets, food pantries. We've gotten a lot of food donations. We give a lot of that food out to the community."
Currently, the parent center operates out of Room 9, a small space that includes a food pantry, clothing closet, and a limited conference area.
Student and Family Support Liaison Adriana Komin said the new building will give the school room to better serve everyone who walks through its doors.
"Okay, well, as you can see, we have limited space. We are very busy. We have a lot of things in here. As you can tell, we have a very small area for our parents. classes. And so with this new building, we will have an area designated for our food pantry, for our clothing pantry, and also for our parent meetings, including classes."
Ramirez-Leyva said survey results pointed to a clear and urgent demand for expanded services.
"And a lot of we're talking about medical services, health services, food services. Those services that we can provide to families to help remove some of those barriers, so they can help focus their kids with their education. So we did serve our community, and there was a high need for these things."
Komin said the impact of the new center will be felt well beyond the school campus.
"It's going to be such an impact for our families and our communities. It's going to allow us to have that extra space to provide different resources for our families and our students and also to our community members it's going to build on that family and community engagement."
The building is scheduled to be completed by January 2027.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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