Edited b-roll and sound of the event can be found here (students in video are media released).
News Release
Crown Point Junior Music Academy Students Celebrate Groundbreaking for New Classroom and Music Center, Honor Violin Academy Founder
May 12, 2023
SAN DIEGO - One of the Pacific Beach neighborhood’s oldest schools is getting a major makeover.
A community staple for 75 years, Crown Point Junior Music Academy (CPJMA) celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for its Whole Site Modernization on Friday.
Students from the Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) through fifth-grade magnet school joined Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson, district leaders, and the family of the late Stephen Luchs, the originator of the school’s violin academy, to celebrate their upcoming music center and classroom facilities.
“Stephen Luchs’ dream for students and parents to be involved in music and learning played a key role in the upcoming music center at CPJMA,'' Dr. Jackson said. “We are so grateful that the renovations to our aging buildings will be influenced by a beloved teacher who cared so much about music and our school community.”
The project includes the construction of a new kindergarten facility, a music center and maker space, renovated classrooms, a safe and secure main campus entryway, and outdoor improvements.
Replacing an aging portable, the new kindergarten building along Fortuna Avenue will include state-of-the-art classrooms with modern technology, furniture, and collaborative workspaces.
To create a secure main campus entryway, student services offices will move from Ingraham Street to Pacific Beach Drive. The vacated Ingraham Street building will transform into a music center and maker space that will include a new music facility and a practice room. Further improving safety, new cameras, an emergency communications system, and perimeter fencing will also be installed at CPJMA.
The project will also provide substantial outdoor improvements, including a learning area near the music and makerspace, three new play structures and a shade shelter in the kindergarten area, a new play structure and shade shelter in the upper-grade playgrounds, hardscape striping, an expanded parking lot, and a dedicated student drop-off and pick-up area along Jewell Street.
“Outdoor facilities play just as key a role in team building and collaboration as indoor learning environments,” said Dr. Cody Petterson, Board of Education Trustee for San Diego Unified. “We are thrilled to bring outdoor workspaces and new play areas where CPJMA students can thrive and grow.”
Construction on the CPJMA Whole Site Modernization is estimated to be complete by the summer of 2025.
CPJMA became a music academy in 2008, after teacher Stephen Luchs brought the Suzuki Violin program to what was then known as Crown Point Elementary. Luchs taught both students and parents how to play violin together, perform together, and bring awareness to the importance of parent involvement.
In addition to its Suzuki Violin program, CPJMA also offers a free after-school music club and music enrichment instruction in homeroom classes. Open to 4th and 5th-grade students, the music club offers instruction from professional musicians and focuses on instrument-playing skills, playing and writing songs, and making audio and video recordings.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jamie Ries, Information Services Specialist, San Diego Unified, 619-855-9283, jries@sandi.net.
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