CARLSBAD -- Principal Devin Vodicka and Carlsbad Unified School District construction manager Robert Todd huddled in Vodicka's office last week, going over the latest progress report for Calavera Hills Middle School whose walls have risen out of the ground yards away.

The $9.4 million project in northeast Carlsbad is under budget and on time, they said. The new campus includes a two-story classroom building; multipurpose room complete with stage, gymnasium and locker rooms, a running track, softball and baseball fields, and basketball courts.

Interior work has begun on the classroom building, ceilings, caseworks, paint and carpet, Todd said. "The building should be ready by mid-June," he added.

"Which is outstanding," said Vodicka. The principal of nearby Calavera Hills Elementary School, he will simultaneously serve as principal of the new middle school.

Construction didn't begin until September and all must be done, classrooms furnished, science labs equipped, computers in place and operating, in time to receive the first contingent of 325 sixth- and seventh-graders from Hope and Calavera Hills elementary schools when the opening bell rings Aug. 31.

The deadline must be met.

"If it gets into September, it puts you into an untenable situation," said Todd, who has overseen scores of district projects in more than five years.

A small town

Picture in less than 12 months building, equipping, furnishing and staffing a small town whose population is expected to grow to 500 in 2005 when the eighth grade is added, and more than 800 by 2010.

Several miles away, the district's purchasing director, Donna Harper, meets with Vodicka frequently. Last week, she leafed through page after page of order forms for thousands of items taken from a standard district list and customized to make sure they fit the new school, its classrooms, and the educational program.

"You take a shell of a classroom," said Harper, "and you have to fill it with everything that's needed -- student desks, tables, computers, teacher desks, audio-visual equipment, even down to the flag that goes on the wall, the trash can and a door mat.

"You need everything to turn that into a classroom, blinds on the windows, pencil sharpeners. Then there's the science labs, not only furniture but microscopes. Computer lab, computers and software. And you have to add your offices you have to fill."

And it all has to be done on a budget, she said. State law only allows 10 percent of construction money for a new school to be used on furnishings, giving Harper and Vodicka a little more than $900,000 to work with.

Thousands of items are due to arrive at the end of July, all of which need to be inventoried, unpacked, assembled, and installed.

"When we opened up Calavera Hills Elementary School (in 2002), we had 10 trucks just filled with classroom furniture, and I'm talking semis," Harper said. "It's really quite something to see."

Then there is the curricula and what classes will be offered. All that must be closely coordinated with the district's two existing middle schools, Valley and Aviara Oaks, especially when it comes to core subjects such as English, math, social science and physical education, certain electives such as band and choir, and some advanced classes, Vodicka said.

"We want every student to have the same opportunity to succeed, no matter where they live in Carlsbad," Vodicka said.

People big factor

And let's not forget the people: Teachers and non-teaching employees, parents, and children.

Eleven teachers for the new school have been picked from 33 applicants at Hope, Calavera Hills, and Kelly elementaries, as well as Aviara Oaks and Valley middle schools and Carlsbad Village Academy.

One is former Kelly Elementary (and now Calavera Hills Elementary sixth-grade) teacher Jane Hartman, who will be moving over to teach seventh-grade humanities, including language and social studies.

"I'm really excited about it, she said. "First, it's an incredible new facility with top-notch technology," she said, adding that the new school offers a chance "to really be able to design a program from the ground up with a lot of student input."

Parents have been brought into the picture early. A middle school project information Web site was created late last year at www.calaverahillscoyotes.com with contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses, construction updates, and photos of construction.

Vodicka said he has been meeting monthly with parents to keep them informed on everything that has been going on. A fledgling PTA and fund-raising organization is in the making, along with a school safety committee.

One parent already named to a parent school committee is Tina Blankenship, whose daughter Skyler, 10, will be moving from Hope into the sixth grade at Calavera Middle.

"My daughter can't wait to be there," Blankenship said. "And just being on the site council, I'm amazed what Devin has done, and the new technology the school is going to have is incredible.

"He's just a world of information. He tells you at every meeting what is going on, play by play by play. And he is very up front. He reads the budget to us … we need a scanner for this room, a trash can for this room. It's just things you don't think about. And you're just saying: Holly cow! I don't know how he does it."

Vodicka has also met with children from Hope and Calavera who will attend the new school, answering questions and giving them a video tour of the new buildings when safety concerns kept them away from construction.

For sixth-graders Mallory Maroschiello and Vanessa Guerrer, this will be their second move to a new school, from Hope to Calavera elementary two years ago and now to seventh grade at the middle school next school year.

"It's a new school, but we will have the same principal," Mallory said.

"Being in another new school is kind of cool," Guerrer said.

High marks

Vodicka's efforts get high marks from District Superintendent Cheryl Ernst.

"If you are able to give people the opportunity to ask questions and get their answers, they are going to walk into that facility with good feelings," Ernst said. "Devin knows how to do it the right way."

Ernst should know, having opened Hope Elementary as its first principal in 1987. "I recall with fond memories, and a little bit of anxiety, all the details you have to think of. I felt like I was camping out on the office floor."

If there is any bad news, it is that Vodicka knows by his own experience that no matter how hard everyone in every department of the district tries, no matter that he is putting in 60- and 70-hour weeks, "you can't anticipate everything. You try, but it's not possible."

Vodicka, with tufts of white in his dark hair, just turned 30. He also took the lead in opening Calavera Hills Elementary School almost two years ago.

Last year, when he was tapped to do the same thing with the middle school, the bass guitar-playing Vodicka took up the drums -- a skill he ably, enthusiastically and loudly demonstrated while sitting in with the band during a sixth-grade concert last week.

"It's very good for relieving stress, and it's very fun," he said.

Contact staff writer Tim Mayer at (760) 901-4043 or tmayer@nctimes.com.