One Community: Building A Brighter Future

Nov. 28, 2023

Dear San Benito High School District parents, students, staff and community:

San Benito High School District’s Facilities Master Plan is nearing completion, the culmination of years of work from a dedicated team devoted to continually improving the learning and teaching environment at Hollister High School. Over the past few years, the 27 projects have included various campus modernization efforts, HVAC upgrades in classrooms and offices, as well as construction of the new Career Technical Education, Visual and Performing Arts, and Science and Robotics buildings. The list also includes projects that benefit our physical education and athletics programs, such as the new Andy Hardin Stadium, the Baler Aquatic Center, the Ray Barragan Softball field, and the multi-purpose fields. The facility plan has also brought the construction of new parking lots, the conversion of the old agriculture building into a classroom space for the Associated Student Body program, and the conversion of the old campus pools into the Baler Plaza. The completion of the district’s Facilities Master Plan is a significant milestone for our community, which has supported Hollister High School for the past 128 years. Combined with the ongoing generosity of the Barragan family, we continue to upgrade and modernize our facilities to provide students with the best learning environment possible.

Throughout the Fall semester this year, San Benito High School District has engaged in a community outreach initiative to invite and gather community feedback regarding a second high school. The campaign kicked off with two Town Hall session in August (one in Spanish; one in English), followed by a series of 10 weekly K-8 Listening and Awareness sessions at elementary school campuses throughout Hollister in September, October and November. We are proud to report that more than 200 participants in 12 discussion sessions provided more than 1,300 comments about what they'd like to see in a new school. The District will host town halls on January 17 (in Spanish) and January 18 (in English) to share the feedback that our community provided as well as discuss next steps in the planning for a second high school.

A number of contractors are on the Hollister High School campus supporting the ongoing construction projects at the Ray Barragan Softball Stadium and at the site of the new Student Union/Cafeteria Building. Under the supervision of Blach Construction, which has effectively guided numerous campus improvement and construction projects to completion in recent years, MK Pipelines is finishing underground utilities, assisting Collins with trenching, backfilling and compacting. Associated Rebar recently finished footing and grade beam rebar projects under the supervision of Blach Self Concrete. At the softball stadium, Southern Bleachers has begun installing the bleachers and press box.

Blach Construction has begun site work on what will become an 8,500-square-foot Student Union Building on Nash Road near West Street. It will include a cafeteria, kitchen, indoor and outdoor assembly spaces, room for students to hang out or study, and provide room for staff and community gatherings.

The $14.3 million building is being funded in part by approximately $8 million in state matching funds that the San Benito High School District applied for though California’s facility program funded by a state bond. The District is also receiving $5 million from the state through a line item in the 2023-24 budget, with the remainder of the cost covered by restricted district funds.

John Frusetta, the district’s chief budget officer, said the student union has a planned completion date of October 2024. 

A student union in the center of campus will create a safe and vibrant facility that is larger and more easily accessible than the current cafeteria, located on the north side of Hollister High School. A larger kitchen and dining facility will meet the needs of our continually growing campus population, which currently hovers around 3,500 and is expected to increase to approximately 3,900 students in the next four years.

The student union is the final project in Hollister High Schools Facilities Master Plan, which has used a combination of voter-approved general obligation bonds, state matching funds, district funds, and the state budget allocation this year to complete construction and modernization projects throughout campus.

The bleacher and press box project at the Ray Barragan Softball Stadium, funded by a donation from the Barragan Family, is underway and has a scheduled completion date of December 2023. The stadium’s namesake was the father of current Baler softball head coach Andrew Barragan, a Hollister High School alumnus.

The stadium project will double the seating capacity of the complex by adding bleachers, and also add a press box, sound system and lighting controls. Also being constructed by Blach, the $428,000 project is the latest in more than $1.2 million of campus projects funded through the generosity of the Barragan family, including covering the full cost of adding lights to the softball stadium.