“It’s been a long time coming.”
That was the feeling Tuesday morning at James D. Price Elementary’s groundbreaking ceremony. For nearly a decade, Yuma School District One worked to make this moment possible. Now, with the help of an $8 million grant from the Department of Defense, the school will be replaced with a new facility.
“While the road to this very moment has been long, it has been worth it,” said Principal Alexandria Johnson during the ceremony.
Located within the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Price currently serves children who live at YPG, have parents who commute there for work, or live in close proximity to the base.
Built in 1953, Price was designed with a very small student body in mind. It has no cafeteria, and its library is housed in a portable structure that was added on later. At 73 years old, the campus contends with leaking roofs, single-pane windows and a loud, buzzing rooftop air conditioner.
Christina Hall, a teacher at Price, attested to the school’s needs.
“Last year, our kinder teacher was in a portable [classroom] because that whole wing was not allowed to be used because the year prior they had some rainstorms that came in and destroyed the roof and the rooms, and so they had to go to different rooms,” she said. “So I mean, the kids out here have been resilient, flexible. The teachers have been resilient and flexible. It's coming — like Ms. Metts was happy that she got to get back into a new room and have windows!”
At the groundbreaking, YPG Commander Col. John Nelson told Price students that the rebuild “is all for you.”
“I remember going through the school when we’ve had some rains that made things more than challenging,” he said. “They're already challenging on a daily basis, so when you have something like that, you have to react — and I want to say that I really appreciate the school district stepping in and making sure that they can bridge that gap and make those repairs.
“But now we're going to have a new school, and this is an excellent thing for this community.”
Superintendent Denis Ponder explained that the district originally planned to renovate Price but quickly determined that it would cost less to build a new school and tear down the old one.
Through the Public Schools on Military Installations Program, District One has received $8,030,235 for the project, or 80% of the total cost. The remaining 20% is being covered by the Arizona School Facilities Division and District One. The division had committed to about $800,000 when the project was initially approved prior to COVID, but costs have since escalated.
“So we had to bring in the additional funding to make the project whole, but, I mean, every little bit helps,” Ponder said. “I think we're coming up with about 1.2 out of our own pockets — which to build a brand new school, 14,000 square feet for 150 kids for a million dollars? You can sign me up for a lot of those! I'll take those!”
The new facility will have a cafeteria, a larger auditorium, dedicated art and music rooms, and a science lab plus upgrades for security. Currently, Price supports an average of 50 K-5 students per year, but the new campus will support 125 students.
When asked about the new design, teacher Christina Hall added that everything will be indoors as opposed to the current layout with a courtyard. Classrooms will be interconnected with doors, making it easier for kids to be supervised should a teacher need to step out for a moment.
While she’ll miss some of the school’s old charm and personality, she thinks these changes are for the better. And her students are very excited.
“When they saw the picture of the building, they're like, ‘What? That's so fancy! It looks like a high school!’ and they're excited,” she said. “They're like, ‘Okay, build it now!’”
Hall had to explain that constructing the new school will take a while. When they asked her what would happen to the new building, she said, “‘Well, they're gonna destroy it and, you know, tear it down.’ And then I had them going ‘Tear it down! Tear it down!’ I'm like, ‘We still have a whole year left!’”
Pilkington Construction Company is constructing the school, and expects to complete it by May or June of 2027, just in time for the 2027-2028 school year.
At the ceremony, PCC President Clint Harrington shared that the project is very important to him as both his grandfather and father worked out at YPG – and so did he before leaving for college.
“This is our hometown. This is our home base,” he said. “95% of the subcontractors are Yuma people, right? So you get that Yuma pride, that good pricing, you know, and this is a great example of a wonderful collaboration.”
The collaboration he referenced was with Thompson Design Architects, which designed the school.
“Nobody deserves it more,” said Chris Thompson, owner and principal architect of TDA. “Our military families are asked to dedicate their lives to serve our country, and when you're asked to dedicate our time to designing a school — just like Colonel Nelson said, this is for all you guys to enjoy — there's, there's just so much more that we get out of a project like that, so we're thrilled.”
Reflecting on the design, Principal Johnson said she’s most excited to have a working kitchen that will provide hot lunches made on site. But more than that, she’s excited that the kids and staff share that excitement.
“I think this is extremely important,” she said. “I think it shows the commitment that District One has to the base, to YPG. I think that, you know, it's that longevity and that partnership that we love so much.”
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Reporting for this article is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
