For history teacher Daniel Neukom, it’s a dream come true.
For 10 years, Neukom has suggested that a sign, with Country Day’s name, be put up on Munroe Street, near the soccer fields.
The reason for the sign?
On many occasions, Neukom has traveled to establishments near the school, such as Loehmann’s Plaza, and has struck up a conversation with people there. When Neukom mentioned that he worked at Sacramento Country Day School, he said the people would often reply, “Where’s that?”
“I thought that was crazy!” Neukom said.
So headmaster Stephen Repsher approached the city around two years ago to seek approval for the sign from the city’s planning and building departments. With the approval Country Day was able to start designing a blueprint for the sign.
The planning department’s job is to decide whether the construction is appropriate and if it is acceptable for the sign to be placed there, Repsher said.
Then the building department dictates how the sign is built, such as whether it has the proper foundation for support.
These prerequisites were needed for the school to plan the layout of the sign before actually beginning construction.
From there Repsher consulted the school’s building and grounds committee.
The city approved the project quickly. It then came down to when the school could focus its energy and funds on a project that significant, according to Repsher.
The school decided to go through with the project now due to the already occurring middle-school construction. This is because it is easier for the construction company to get a permit for the sign. However, if the school tried to get a construction permit to begin building on their own it would have been a big hassle, according to Repsher.
(The construction permit is needed to begin the physical process of creating the sign, even though the city had already approved the idea.)
The sign will be 50 feet long and 3 feet high. The base will be reinforced concrete. The sign itself will be made of CMU (similar to cinder block) and covered with dark bronze-colored stucco.
The words on the sign will take up only 14 feet in width of the 50 feet total. They will say “Sacramento Country Day School”; below will be “Pre-K through 12.”
Neukom even had the opportunity to take the first piece of earth out of what will become the sign’s residence.
“It felt wonderful to do that,” Neukom said. “I’m delighted that the sign will finally come to fruition.”
