Petaluma Junior High School will soon get a new courtyard intended to “enhance the functionality, safety, and overall student experience of the campus courtyard space,” according to Petaluma City Schools district leaders.

The $1 million project, slated to be completed this summer, is intended to improve the central outdoor gathering area of the Bantam Way campus, resulting in “a more functional and inviting outdoor space for students and staff,” said PCS Chief Business Officer Amanda Bonivert in an email to the Argus-Courier.

The project will be a full updating of the more than 60-year-old courtyard area, which district officials said dates back to the original PJHS campus built in the early 1960s.

Specific improvements include upgrades to the school’s outdoor amphitheater, installation of a new shade structure and better landscaping with several new trees, Bonivert said. She added that the project will also include improvements to the adjacent ramp and drop-off parking lot to address accessibility requirements, “ensuring safer and more inclusive access to the campus.”

The district’s Board of Education moved the project forward last month, approving a contract with Midstate Construction during its April 14 meeting. Construction is expected to begin June 8 and should be completed by July 31.

The district said it is using a “lease-leaseback” method, which allows a school district to lease land to a contractor who builds on the land and then leases it back, with ownership reverting to the district at the end of the lease or construction period. This method allows the district to “engage a construction firm early in the design phase to work collaboratively with the architect and enhance project constructability,” according to an April 14 PCS staff report on the project.

The estimated $1 million cost for the project will be funded by Measure C, a Petaluma Joint Union High School District bond measure approved by voters in 2014 under then-Superintendent Steve Bolman.

Although the original staff report cited Measure E as the funding source, Bonivert said that was a staff error. The report has since been changed online.