Modesto High School renovations kick off with $100M plans for new classrooms, facilities

Hundreds of Modesto High students stood near the softball field Tuesday morning with fingers raised high as they cheered and sang the school song, surrounding several shovels that signified the start of major renovations on campus.

Funded through bond Measure L — approved by voters in 2022 — the plans Modesto High School include demolishing, building and renovating campus facilities and classrooms. The district estimates renovations to be done during the 2026-27 school year.

Improvements include building two facilities that will house classrooms for chemistry, biology, culinary arts and other career and technical courses. Other improvements include building more staff parking, a new outdoor dining area, a football stadium and potential for new sports fields.

A goal of these facilities is to centralize all academic instruction on the main campus and upgrade key infrastructure. This renovation project will cost an estimated $100 million for the first two phases.

Modesto High School students Ahmad Dagher and Desiree Diaz said the work will improve a lot of issues students are faced with on campus.

“We’re struggling with our facilities being outdated,” said Dagher. “They can’t keep up with our growing student populations. With these new upgrades, I really think we’re gonna excel much more academically and in our extracurriculars with our stadium and the new upgrades in the 20 classrooms.”

Diaz, who is student body president, said she is excited for the new football stadium. “It’ll really give us something to rally around for, like, student activities, pep rallies and all our events here,” she said.

Associate Superintendent Tim Zearley said teachers already have moved out of classrooms that are to be demolished along Rosedale Avenue to make way for building new facilities.

The district is awaiting approval from the Division of the State Architect— which oversees all California public K-12 schools, community colleges and state-owned facilities — before demolition can begin. Zearly estimates it will begin at the end of this month.

T he district then will start construction on a two-story wing that will house 20 classrooms and an adjacent career technical education wing with three classrooms as part of “phase one” for the renovation project.

Next year, the district will begin phase two, which will include constructing a two-story, 32-classroom building. Once it’s completed, all classroom will be on the main campus, to ensure no one has to cross Paradise Road or H Street to get to class.

During phase 2, the district will build the new parking stalls for staff, a drop-off and a pickup lane in front of the school and a large shade canopy for outdoor dining.

By the 2026-27 school year, phase three is to begin. Once students are all on one side of campus, the old classrooms on the campus’ north side will come down to make room for a new 2,500-seat stadium and additional parking. District staff said they currently do not know how much phase 3 will cost.

Zearley said construction noise on campus and extending into the neighborhood is unavoidable.

“We try to minimize it, but especially when it comes to winter months with the short daylight window, our time is compressed,” he said. “But we fence it off, so there’s no access. There’s no visibility to the work going on, but there will be noises and there will be construction activity going on.”

When was Modesto High last renovated?

Scott Mitchell, an art teacher at Modesto High, said the school has had various renovations over the 106 years it’s served students at its current location.

Modesto High School first began in 1883 as one classroom with 40 students above Washington Elementary School at 14th and I streets. It was the first established high school in Stanislaus County.

Within years, the community voted to have the high school in a district of its own. In 1899, the first site developed as a high school was purchased for $1,500 near 12th and L streets.

The newly established district paid $19,500 to build a two-story brick building on that plot of land.

Due to enrollment increases between 1901 and 1916, the district needed a new campus. A facility was built at its current location for $160,000 in 1918, for a student body of 545. In the 1920s, the school established its official mascot, the panther.

As the student body grew, a community college, Modesto Junior College, was started on the Modesto High campus in 1921. The music hall expanded Modesto’s campus across the street, and by 1930, the agriculture department and its newly founded FFA chapter found a home at the campus as well.

After a small earthquake in February 1944, an inspection of the buildings resulted in the condemnation of major portions of the school. Reconstruction began in 1947 and ended in 1951, which helped renovate classrooms, the auditorium, the library and administration offices.

In the 1950s, seeing Modesto High School population reaching 2,500, the district began construction on another school about three miles northeast: Thomas Downey High School.

While construction of Downey continued, more construction was added to the Modesto High campus. These renovations during the 1950s and ’60s included a new gym, agricultural shop, science wing classrooms and a cafeteria.

In 1972, a complex for art and other classrooms was built to replace an old section of the school. In the 1980s, Washington Elementary was closed and Modesto High School took over what is now referred to as the north campus.

In the late 1990s, a math/science building was completed, and in 2022, new agricultural classrooms and a greenhouse were completed.

“The history of this great school continues,” Mitchell said. “The next few years will include a new era with the biggest building project here in 75 years. I think I need to be here for that.”

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