A day before the new school year started, with more than 16,000 students returning to class throughout Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Pajaro Middle School celebrated the reopening of the campus following major flood repairs.
When the Pajaro River Levee broke during heavy winter rains in March 2023, floodwaters rushed into the town of Pajaro, displacing hundreds of residents, businesses and drenching much of the school.
The flood and consequent repair list forced district officials to channel all 421 students off to three different schools for the rest of the year.
“The displacement of the students, the displacement of the families was heart-wrenching news to follow, even from a distance,” Pajaro Valley Unified School District superintendent Heather Contreras said. “But one thing that was very heartwarming was to watch how this community came together to celebrate this community, to help this community to do everything that was needed and was necessary in a very short order to help the families, the teachers and the students.”
The cleanup wrapped up in June, and cost $11 million, most of which was covered by FEMA. Several of the classrooms, the gymnasium and the library got new floors and numerous upgrades. Work included extracting mud and other debris, removing damaged sheetrock and flooring, redoing landscaping, and adding new cabinets and lighting.
“Welcome home,” said incoming new principal, Nicole (Marsh) Killian, a third-generation resident of Watsonville. “As we start this new year it is my heart and desire that students know what it means to live with Pajaro Panther pride. It is so important that we are here every day to build, to connect, communicate, learn and to grow.”
To help open the school, officials invited returning students Kaleah Alanis and Sara Sosa to cut the ribbon.
“We are glad to be returning to our campus because it is much smaller and less crowded,” Sosa said. “Thank you to our community members for helping us to come back to our home here at Pajaro Middle School.”
Alanis said she is happy to know that she is going to end her eighth-grade year at the school where she started.
“I am very emotional to see all the changes at the school after the devastation,” she said.
The upbeat ceremony also included Monterey County Supervisors Glen Church and Luis Alejo, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez, Pajaro Valley Unified School District board trustees Kim De Serpa, Jennifer Holm, Oscar Soto, Adam Scow and others. On behalf of Assemblyman Robert Rivas, Dominic Dursa presented a framed statement to the district commemorating the achievement.
