One Bite at a Time

While it may not appear to be so from an outside observe, we've reached an important milestone on our high school construction project. At roughly five months in, it is gratifying. I have to continue to remind myself that patience is a virtue and remember that delays are part of the process. This isn't my first project and probably won't be my last. I have numerous colleagues who are, and have completed construction projects. All are in agreement that it can be frustrating at times. But I am reminded of the old adage, 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time'. 

The space that was previously utilized as the high school library has been converted to three classrooms and the two rooms that were utilized as the 'inquiry space' and 'college classroom' have been converted to a new art room. The new art room was released for instruction on November 7, and this week new furniture is being installed in all four of those classrooms. The two rooms closest to the commons will be the new home of the math department and the northern most room will be a 'multi-purpose' space. Before this week is out, those teachers and students will be able to move into this space. Then begins a process of musical chairs, where teachers will become mobile as the classrooms along Washington Street will be renovated.

Most of the classrooms along the parking lot side of the building were finished before school started this year. Meaning they all received new windows, ceilings, lighting, paint, and carpet. Now that the new art room has been finished, focus will turn to the old art room which will be converted into the agriculture room. If you are curious about what is happening with the library, that will be part of the current industrial arts suite, which, as a larger classroom to begin with is being split in half and extended into the offices that sat in the middle of the building. The general public probably wasn't even aware these spaces existed, nonetheless those will become part of the new library and business lab. That work is scheduled to begin over the holidays with an anticipated completion of spring break. 

Understandably, most of the public excitement is likely on the addition. To orient everyone with the general layout of the building, the structure closest to Wood Street is the new locker rooms and safe room. I can promise you the safe room will indeed be a safe place to be if ever needed. Fun fact: the foundation and footings of this space alone contain more than 80 tons of steel! The walls to the gym addition are very obvious, with the northern most wall of that gym nearing completion. We are very close to being in a position to install the steel that will support the roof structure. It is our hope this will be an enclosed structure before it gets too cold and we have snow to content with. 

To the north, you can also see the new Career and Technical Education (CTE) center going up. This will be the home of industrial arts, including construction trades and automotive. With the agriculture room adjacent to the addition, it will provide great access to this space for our [ag] mechanics class and horticulture. Once completed, all our CTE strands and coursework will be located in one central location! We also hopeful this can be covered before the snow flies, so the work on the inside can continue without interruption.

Our goal for completion remains August of 2024. Indeed we have a lot of work to do in the interim and have some time to make up, but we'll keep at it: one bite a time.