Jose Ortega 2028 Yard Update

Last year Jose Ortega Elementary School won a grant to update its yard. The new design will improve the flow of the school and provide space for all types of outdoor activities.

The design team recently stopped by to debut the initial design and gather feedback from the community. The design includes a 57’ x 43’ basketball court with age appropriate height basketball hoops, 4 square courts, and a new Play Structure! There is an artificial turf area with a 50’ x 40’ Soccer field on artificial turf. The California Department of Education has standards for shock absorption (“ASTM F355 G-Max Impact Attenuation Standard” for sports fields and “ASTM F1292 Critical Fall Height” for playgrounds) these provide confortable surfaces for the kids to run on and will be more forgiving on clothes and knees than the current blacktop. In our foggy morning climate artificial turf dries out hours faster than natural grass providing kids more hours of usability.

The yard includes a quieter areas like a outdoor areas that could be used for instruction, eating lunch or reading, one with a shaded canopy as well as a garden. The plan is currently to update both play structures including the Kinder playground. See the Deck for more details. If you were not able to make the PTA meeting, feel free to provide additional feedback here.

The designs will continue to be refined until February 2027, then a bidding stage until November 2027, then mobilization and construction will begin. The children should have a new yard by the 2028 school year.