Colton, CA—The Whitmer Auditorium and the Rivera Cafetorium are some examples of some improvements made on campus in the past year. 

But Colton High School is far from being done yet with construction, as one of the school’s current projects is its renovation of the building where our TOP students and staff work and learn. 

TOP is Colton Joint Unified School District’s Transition Opportunity Program. It is offered on campus to adult students with severe to moderate cognitive special needs to support their independent living after they leave high school. 

For several years, the building that houses the TOP program, located on the east side of campus near the 3rd St. gate, has been in disrepair.  Since the last week of June the building has finally been receiving necessary renovations and repairs. By the time it’s done the building will almost seem entirely new.

“[District maintenance] redid the wiring, they took out this wall and put new drywall, painted it, and they put cabinets up,” said Ashton Reynosa, one of the program’s teachers. “We’re supposed to be getting a new stove, a new microwave, washer, dryer, and hopefully a dishwasher. Then eventually we will have this area situated where we can have our lessons, but also an area where students can come and have recreation and leisure time where they can socialize.”

The anticipated new appliances and updates will surely give the TOP students a much better environment to learn. As they’ve noticed things change around the classrooms and building with the arrival of new resources, they’ve felt nothing less than special. 

The upgrades are not limited to just repairs and updates to the building itself, but also providing brand new furniture for the students as well. This includes new desks, chairs, and storage cabinets fit for the adult students to use. 

TOP teacher Robert Cerny shared what his student’s think about updates themselves. “Considering what we were using before, this is like a super duper upgrade. So they really like these new chairs and desks and they’re not old, they’re new. They feel like it’s theirs and it’s shiny and bright. So I’m really cool with them.”

As of now, not all of the renovations are completed, but it’s speculated to be finished sometime this August. Attempts were made to communicate with administration at CJUSD Students Services to determine a definitive date, but no response was received prior to publication. 

Even so, staff and students are ecstatic to receive such care, and can’t help but anticipate when it’ll all be finished. 

Update: Room 511, currently occupied by TOP instructor Lindsey Scarborough, was repainted in full this week. TOP teachers Scarborough, Robert Cerny and Ashton Reynosa indicated that they were informed the full renonvation would be completed by Back-to-School Night on Sept. 14.