The Santa Rosa School Board on Wednesday night unanimously accepted a sponsorship deal with Trimble Navigation Limited to support the $3.6 million Science and Technology Center at Piner High School.

The facilities are under construction at the Fulton Road campus but the new $50,000 deal accepted Wednesday night at the school board meeting will be a boon for the program, according to science teacher Kurt Kruger, who along with Kristi Erickson, has been a driving force in developing the program at Piner.

“I’m actually hoping this is the first in many deals like this, hopefully,” he said.

The deal doesn’t give Trimble any naming rights, but does allow the company to use the facilities for one week sometime during a three year period. An initial proposal had given Trimble access to the building 10 times over the life of the deal.

“The whole concept of having a Trimble conference on site is in our interest as well,” Associate Superintendent Doug Bower said before Wednesday night’s regular meeting. “It’s good for the whole system to have that kind of exposure.”

Trimble can also use the facility in its marketing campaigns and is allowed to have a representative at any groundbreaking ceremonies.

For more about Piner’s award-winning program, click here: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120516/ARTICLES/205161046?p=all&tc=pgall