Excavation began last week on the $5.1 million construction project that is set to be finished by the fall of 2020. The centerpiece of this project includes a new secured entrance with an expanded commons. The new entrance will consolidate the elementary and middle school offices in one location, create a larger ‘sick bay’ nurses station, private faculty restrooms, teacher work space, and conferencing rooms. During the day, the only entrance into the building will be through the secured entrance. Visitors to the school will be routed through the office where they will sign in prior to gaining access to the building. This will be a major safety feature upgrade that will eliminate the current 'blind entrance' to the elementary school. At the same time, the merging of the current elementary and middle school offices will allow us to convert those spaces to classrooms. With our anticipated growth in enrollment, instructional spaces will become a premium. We believe at the conclusion of this project we will have a net gain of 4 classrooms.
Part of this renovation will include a commons and media center expansion with the removal of the stairs on the north end of the valley and installation of an elevator lift to meet ADA requirements. The media center is getting quite a bit of architectural attention as well, so that should prove to be a great space for students with the installation of dedicated reading areas, conferencing rooms, and rooms that can be utilized for a variety of purposes including maker space labs. The other two classrooms we will be able to pick up will be two classrooms adjacent to the library. You may recall we installed doors to these rooms from the hallway this past summer. In this next phase, those spaces will be converted to 'flexible classrooms spaces'.
Also getting attention during this construction project will be the locker rooms across the hall from the competition gym and the 'dungeon'. During our planning process, locker rooms were identified as a high priority area by our students. I couldn't have agreed more!
Most of this work will be ongoing and will take the better part of the next year and a half to complete. Like the ongoing excavation, work will be occurring while school is in session because the summer months are just too short to complete this work. However, we do intend to make some major progress this summer when we intend to complete renovations to the south wing with the same scope of work that has been completed the last two summers. This year, however we are adding in dedicated outside air handling units to improve circulation in the building. This addition is to combat the air quality issues that were experienced this pas fall at the start of the school year. We also plan to replace all the exterior doors at both attendance centers and replace building access with key fobs or key cards. We do anticipate all this work will be finished by the time school starts.
Part of this renovation will include a commons and media center expansion with the removal of the stairs on the north end of the valley and installation of an elevator lift to meet ADA requirements. The media center is getting quite a bit of architectural attention as well, so that should prove to be a great space for students with the installation of dedicated reading areas, conferencing rooms, and rooms that can be utilized for a variety of purposes including maker space labs. The other two classrooms we will be able to pick up will be two classrooms adjacent to the library. You may recall we installed doors to these rooms from the hallway this past summer. In this next phase, those spaces will be converted to 'flexible classrooms spaces'.
Also getting attention during this construction project will be the locker rooms across the hall from the competition gym and the 'dungeon'. During our planning process, locker rooms were identified as a high priority area by our students. I couldn't have agreed more!
Most of this work will be ongoing and will take the better part of the next year and a half to complete. Like the ongoing excavation, work will be occurring while school is in session because the summer months are just too short to complete this work. However, we do intend to make some major progress this summer when we intend to complete renovations to the south wing with the same scope of work that has been completed the last two summers. This year, however we are adding in dedicated outside air handling units to improve circulation in the building. This addition is to combat the air quality issues that were experienced this pas fall at the start of the school year. We also plan to replace all the exterior doors at both attendance centers and replace building access with key fobs or key cards. We do anticipate all this work will be finished by the time school starts.
The project is being funded by the one cent sales tax revenue the district receives. Our sales tax revenue generates approximately $650,000 annually. Specifically we are using a mechanism known as a tax anticipated revenue bond (TARB), which essentially is a financing mechanism used by school district in lieu of raising property taxes. The board was deliberate in their decision making when it came to the financing of this project because they wanted to ensure there were no property tax implications. That would not have been the case had the board elected to pursue a general obligation bond (GO), which does have a property tax element.
If you are interested in learning more about our project, the funding of this work, or would like to see architectural renderings of the finished product, I would love to visit! Please feel free to stop by anytime and check it out!
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