Garden Valley Elementary School in North Sacramento has traded a pair of aging trailers for an 11,000-square-foot building and a new 2,000-square-foot administration office, part of a $17.8 million construction project that Twin Rivers Unified School District celebrated this week. The new complex includes a cafeteria, auditorium and administration building, replacing facilities that staff and board members say the growing campus had long outgrown.
The project was funded half by bond dollars and half by facilities funding, according to KCRA, which reported that Garden Valley’s previous administrative space consisted of two trailers put together. Board member Emmanuel Amanfor, who represents Trustee Area 6 on the seven-member Twin Rivers Unified Board of Trustees, said the school was running out of space and that the new facility is very necessary. Amanfor, who took office on July 1, 2026, told the outlet the new buildings will leave a lasting impact on students, and the district described the new administration office as a more welcoming place to work with students and parents.
Garden Valley Elementary staff are thrilled about the project, per the station’s report, and the new construction lands amid what Twin Rivers officials describe as growing districtwide enrollment. The campus sits at 3601 Larchwood Dr., where the district had already added a 1,440-square-foot relocatable classroom in 2025 to expand Universal Transitional Kindergarten offerings, according to a state environmental exemption filed with CEQAnet.
New Buildings, Old Staffing Problems
The ribbon-cutting arrives even as some Garden Valley classrooms are already exceeding the district’s own contractual limits. Second-grade classes at the school opened the 2026-27 year with up to 28 students, above the 26-student cap agreed to for grades TK through third, as reported by CapRadio, which cited ongoing district staffing shortages. Union leaders quoted in that report pointed to unfilled support staff positions, including instructional aides, as a driving factor behind the overcrowded classrooms…