R. Roger Rowe School gym to get paint job

The gym at R. Roger Rowe School will be repainted this summer as the Rancho Santa Fe School District board continues to plan for improvements to the facility, including a new roof.

The gym, built in 1973, will be cleaned up and painted a brighter white to match the rest of the newer campus buildings. The painting is being done in-house at a minimal cost by a painter/day custodian that is employed full time by the district.

The possibility of modernizing or replacing the gym has been discussed many times over the past 11 years, however, this year the board stressed that the district should consider the gym a long-term asset that needs to be maintained.

In May the board considered work on the gym’s fascia, the overhang between the building and the roof, and requested further study of pairing the work with a full roof replacement. At the July 15 school board meeting, Debra Vaughn-Cleff, of architecture firm Studio WC, provided the results of review with Tremco, a roofing and building maintenance company: “Their opinion is the roof is ready to be replaced.”

With the roof replacement, Vaughn-Cleff said the district will also need to address the beams and soffit (the underside of the overhang) which are in “pretty lousy condition” with damage and dry rot, and additionally repair the gutters and parapet, the wall along the edge of the roof.

The roof work is estimated to cost $700,000 for the construction and $1 million for the project in total. The fascia work had been estimated at about $52,000.

According to Superintendent Donna Tripi, the district will bundle the work and go out to bid in spring 2022 with the process timed for the work to be completed over the summer of 2022.

New assistant principal named for R. Roger Rowe
The Rancho Santa Fe School District has selected a new assistant principal for R. Roger Rowe School. At the July 15 board meeting, Superintendent Donna Tripi announced that Carrie Faulk will take over the role effective July 26.

Tripi said there were 94 applicants for the assistant principal position following the resignation of John Galipault on June 30. Galipault had been at the school since 2012 and had served as assistant principal since 2019—he taught science and also served as the school’s athletic director.

Four final candidates came before an interview panel that included elementary and middle school teachers and board members Jee Manghani and Kali Kim. Faulk rose to the top.

Faulk brings 16 years of experience as an educator in the Escondido Union School District. For the last six years, she taught sixth and eighth grade English language arts and also has a strong background in social and emotional learning. At Escondido, Faulk won Teacher of the Year honors in 2007, 2010, 2017 and 2020.

“We’re excited to have her join our team,” Tripi said. “We think she’s going to be great.”