March 22, 2016 -- More than a half century after its last major rebuild, Santa Monica High School officials are talking about increasing the size of the campus by nearly 50 percent, not to accommodate more students but to keep up with 21st Century needs for technology and space for education.

The basic structure of the current campus site, which sits on about 26 acres, was built mostly in the early 1950s during the Eisenhower era that saw major growth with the baby boom generation.

Enrollment at Samohi, as the main high school is called, has leveled out at around 3,000 students in recent years. But the school on 601 Pico Boulevard, not far from the heart of downtown, is struggling to meet the demands of everything from modern technology to space for sports fields, officials have long said.

“Samohi wasn’t built with the 21st Century in mind,” said Gail Pinsker, a spokesperson for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD).

Now the School Board id considering big changes for the high school, earmarking $180 million for Samohi as part of Measure ES, a $385-million bond for school improvements approved by voters in 2012 ("Santa Monica-Malibu School District Hires Bond Consultant," October 6, 2015).

A draft plan for the changes at Samohi could be ready by June, according to district officials.

Samohi “is well below the size of its type of campus,” Pinsker told the Lookout. “It’s small and that has an impact.”

The square footage for Samohi could eventually increase by 47 percent over the coming decades, Pinsker said.

New construction could focus on increasing the height of buildings given the space constraints of the site, officials have said.

Last year, Samohi opened its new “Innovation” building, a 97,000-square-foot center that is comprised of three floors for science and technology ("New $55 Million 'Innovation' Building to be Publicly Unveiled at Santa Monica High School," September 9, 2015).

The $55 million price tag was covered by Measure BB -- a $268-million bond approved by voters in 2006. The new building houses 36 new classrooms, two special education classrooms, a computer lab, an auto shop and administrative offices.

The center replaced the old Samohi technology building and is cited as an example of what the future should hold for the overall modernization of the high school. Construction started in 2011.

Parents are among those who often complain about the size of the campus, especially its lack of playing fields.

In February, in fact, a coalition of parents, the PTA, Samohi students and others rallied in front of City Hall to demand that part of the Civic Auditorium site be reserved for school sports fields. Proponents of the idea said they’d been making the argument for a decade.

The City Council, which is responsible for the fate of the property on which the now-shuttered auditorium sits, did not take action and the issue is ongoing ("Council Adopts Plan Prioritizing Fixing Civic Auditorium," February 2, 2016).