AUSD Reopens Wood Middle School After Two-Year Rebuild
The $298 million Measure B bond paid for a brand new campus, and this month, Wood's students finally walked through the front door.
By The Alameda Pulse
Wood Middle School has a new home, and it's nothing like the building that stood there before. Alameda Unified celebrated the opening of the rebuilt campus at 2060 Challenger Dr. on August 7, replacing a three story building from 1965 with a brand new two story campus built from the ground up.
What the Measure B Bond Built at Wood Middle School
Voters approved the $298 million Measure B bond back in 2022, and Wood is one of the first big projects to actually open its doors. Lathrop Construction Associates built it from a design by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, and it wasn't a quick job. Crews worked for 24 months, with more than 100 workers on site some days, sinking 411 concrete piles, each 80 feet long, just to anchor the new building.
Here's what students walked into this month:
- 24 classrooms inside a new two story building
- A new gym with its own attached PE classroom
- Four science classrooms with updated safety equipment
- 176 solar panels, enough to cover the electricity use of about 10 homes for a year
- 130 new trees plus 6,000 additional plants around campus
- More than 70 parking spots, including accessible and EV spaces
Why the Old Campus Had to Go
Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi didn't mince words about the building Wood replaced. "The old campus was deteriorating, unattractive, and very much out of date," he said. Anyone who's dropped off a kid there in the last few years probably wouldn't argue.
Architect Joel Williams pointed to the small stuff that adds up for a family's daily routine, saying the new design runs "from the new drop-off lane that will be safer for students, to the brand new classrooms." Board President Ryan LaLonde connected it back to the bond itself: "This revenue is allowing us to build beautiful, safe, up-to-date facilities."
More Measure B Projects Are Coming to AUSD Campuses
Wood isn't the only school getting a Measure B makeover this year. Alameda High's Kofman Auditorium just reopened after its own bond funded renovation, and more projects are in the pipeline across the district. If you want to see what else is coming up around town, check the Pulse events calendar.
For Wood families, the wait is finally over. The ribbon cutting drew crowds to the new quad, and by the time school started, the crane and the pile driver were long gone, replaced by classrooms that actually match the year we're in.
