Grant Elementary School students have a new library and innovation lab after the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District held a ribbon-cutting for the $10.3 million project on Oct. 14.
The bond-funded project also includes a renovated historic courtyard with outdoor learning space, according to a district press release. Inside, the facility features an expanded library with a reading room, reception and circulation area, librarian's office and textbook room. A separate Innovation Lab gives students space for science, engineering and design projects.
The lab will host hands-on work. Students will design structures to withstand natural disasters and use architectural principles to model small towns, the district said.
"The people in the community have to see what they paid because it's our tax dollars that's built this," board member Maria Leon-Vazquez said at a September board meeting, as the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. She suggested open houses organized by school pathway.
Principal Christian Fuhrer said in the release that the spaces give students more opportunities to explore, create and take ownership of their learning.
The Grant library is one of five major SMMUSD facility projects put into use this summer and fall. Bond program manager Steven Massetti presented the scope of the work to the Board of Education in Sept., covering projects under Measures M, SMS, MM and QS. Voters approved Measures QS and MM in 2024.
More construction is ahead at Grant. A separate $24.4 million classroom building with a rooftop garden and lab space was due to open in January 2027 but is running behind schedule. Massetti said a few weeks' delay might not sound significant, but "when that few weeks means you can't start the semester there, it's actually kind of a lot."
A new STEM building at John Adams Middle School is expected to open in August 2027.
