View from the Inside

If you have been watching the construction project from the outside it may appear that not a lot has happened in the last couple of months. Looks can certainly be deceiving if this is your only viewpoint. The fact is a lot has happened in the intervening months since the cold weather set in, and each time I stop out to review the project it is exciting to see the progress. From a large empty shell, we can now really start to visualize how the space is going to look! Which is great, considering we are planning to be finished in time for the 2020-2021 school year to begin. 

Currently a lot of the work is focused on the new elementary office area. In the photo included here, I am standing behind the work area that will be assigned to the administrative assistants. Directly to my right and out of view is the principals office. Behind me are teacher work areas and conference rooms. The opening you see to the right will be the only public access to the facility during the day and is a secured entrance; one of the most important and highly sought after features of this space. It will require patrons to pass through the office in order to gain access to the school during the school day. The large openings in front of the desk area are windows that overlook the commons. I am not including any pictures of the commons here because that space still has quite a bit of work to be done. The window to the right is the new medical area, which is greatly expanded from the current space and will be a comfortable place to meet the health needs of our students.

While this project shows steady progress, there is no doubt much work remaining. In my opinion, the work that is scheduled for this summer will eclipse what we have done so far. This includes removing the current west wall in the [current] commons to connect to the new space, the entrance to the academic wing along the south wall, and the final expansion of the media center. Also included in the work over the summer will be removing and rebuilding the north staircase through the valley as well as the addition of a ADA compliant lift. If it sounds like a lot of work in a relatively short period of time, it is!

Those big pieces in and of themselves are enough to keep our construction crew[s] very busy over the summer. But, there are a lot of other components that are incredibly important, but not necessarily as 'eye popping' as the the others already discussed. Remember, this is 'Phase III' of the elementary renovation project. Once concluded, we will have pretty much completely renovated the elementary attendance center. One of the other biggest (and unseen) components scheduled for this summer is finishing the new ventilation systems for both the early childhood wing and the 4th and 5th grade wing. We are hoping to have those wrapped up by the end of June so our maintenance crew has plenty of time to get everything cleaned up and ready to go for the students.

All during this project I have reminded our faculty and staff that progress is sometimes noisy, messy, and inconvenient. With that, there are a couple of things that are scheduled to begin here very shortly that you should be aware of. As a start, immediately following the conclusion of our winter sports seasons, we plan to begin demolition of all four locker rooms. This includes those directly adjacent to the competition gym and those in the basement. Then, once spring break arrives the construction crew will remove the rubble from that work. At the same time, the current elementary office will be abandoned and temporarily relocated. Demolition in that office will commence over spring break as well, with that space ultimately being converted to instructional space. Part of this renovation project has also had the goal of ensuring our elementary school is equipped to handle four sections at each grade level. Currently configured as a three section elementary, this expansion will help us manage projected enrollment growth. This conversion will help us to meet that goal.