The new library that will serve San Lorenzo Valley’s high school and middle school broke ground last week, marking the start of the 13,000-square-foot building.

After the June 2 ceremony, the library should be ready to open within the next 1½ years, construction manager Erik Slaughter said.

The new two-story library will connect the middle and high school campuses. One floor will house the high school’s library, and the other will serve the middle school. Its style complements each school’s design.

“The first floor will face toward the high school, and the second floor will face the middle school,” Slaughter said.

The building will also house a computer lab.

Beverly Prior Architects of San Francisco designed the building, which is anticipated to cost about $8 million. Contractor Barry Swenson Builder won the contract.

San Lorenzo Valley High School’s old library was destroyed after three teenagers set fire to a trash barrel pushed up against an exterior wall in September 2006.

The construction will be paid for by Measure O, an $18.9 million bond measure San Lorenzo Valley voters passed with more than 60 percent approval in February 2008.

Measure O is a building program geared to improve all four SLV public schools.

Success of the measure was the result of a yearlong process that started when the school board and administration began talking about how to replace the library, which was damaged in an arson fire in 2006. The larger vision evolved as trustees suggested there was a bigger opportunity at hand.

In the meantime, the high school converted some classroom space into a temporary library.

So far, the bond money has gone to build some classrooms at San Lorenzo Valley Elementary School, and it will also fund the construction of classrooms at Boulder Creek Elementary. Part of the money, meanwhile, will go toward rebuilding the performing arts center at the high school, said Susan Willats, chairwoman of the Measure O Bond Oversight Committee.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Willats said. “This is a great moment. From the time the library burned to now, the community has rallied and took a depressing incident into a great resource. Finally, each school will have a library worthy of the students attending.”

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