Building A Future A Closer Look At School Construction On The North Side
Here’s a school-by-school roundup of major North Side construction projects:
Mead High School
What: total remodel project
Cost: $31 million
Scheduled completion date: July 2001
Features:
* 11 acres of athletic fields, including a new track, football field, two soccer fields, 10 tennis courts, two softball fields, two baseball fields, two practice football fields, batting cages
* theater
* choir room
* band room
* 65 classrooms
* library
* 25 offices
* parking lot
Around Mead High School, there has been talk of remodeling for about 15 years.
The school - built in 1972 for 1,200 kids - held 1,500 last year and has seen as many as 2,000.
“It was poorly built originally,” said Principal Mick Miller. “Anyone will tell you that.”
Built around an “open classroom” concept, the school had only thin, temporary walls between most classes.
“The acoustics were terrible,” Miller said.
The Mead modernization is exhaustive. Working in phases, construction workers strip the classrooms down to the girders and start rebuilding from scratch.
When it’s complete, the school will be roughly divided into separate academic and activities wings, improving the overall traffic patterns within the school, Miller said.
And, unlike the current design, every room will have natural light.
The school’s identifying characteristic - the mall, where students gather to chat, eat lunch, hold dances and show movies - will be re-created in the new building.
“It’ll be a real neat place for kids,” Miller said. “But adults spend a good part of their lives here, so we wanted it to be nice for them too. I think it will meet both needs.”
Rogers High School
What: remodel and restoration project
Cost: $5.2 million
Scheduled completion date: April 2000
Features:
* 1,352 square feet of student commons space
* new shower/locker rooms
* gymnasium
* restored 1932 auditorium, including construction of orchestra pit
* renovation of 18 offices
* fire alarm and communication system
Throughout its history, Rogers High School has benefited from several expansion projects - including a remodeled library five years ago. But lately, parents and teachers have been watching the age of the 1932 building begin to show more and more.
The first floor has a tendency to flood during large rainstorms, locker rooms need upgrading, counseling and administrative offices need to be reorganized and the whole building is difficult to secure, said business department head Georgia Miller.
This project aims to fix those problems, help the school meet basic technology and safety standards and preserve a bit of history.
Windows in the auditorium that have been blacked out since World War II will once more welcome in the sun and be adorned with curtains.
New seats - similar to the original wooden style but fitted with cushy seat pads - will be installed, with attention paid to spacing.
“Kids are bigger these days than they were in 1932,” Miller said.
Browne Elementary School
What: new 50,000-square-foot school
Cost: $4.75 million
Scheduled completion date: August 2000
Features:
* 21 classrooms for grades K-6
* science/art and technology classrooms
* gymnasium
* multi-purpose room with kitchen for assemblies, indoor recess and lunch
* library and technology center
* five offices
Browne Elementary School Principal Rodger Lake walked through the front doors of the school and pointed to a steep ramp leading to a few stairs that connect the first and second floors.
“That’s why we need a new school,” he said, adding that the building also has no elevator.
But that and other problems like occasional flooding, limited technological capabilities and the lack of a lunchroom will be rectified with the building of the new, two-story school.
The new Browne will be constructed while students attend classes in the original 1914 building. Two portable classrooms will be removed, causing a bit of crowding. For now, the special ed resource room and the computer lab will become classrooms. Playground space and play equipment will also be temporarily lost.
But focusing on the end result will likely make less-than-ideal situations a bit more bearable.
“For a year, we can do anything,” Lake said.
Once the new school is completed, all the portable classrooms will be removed - a few of which will be sent to Finch Elementary in a related, $160,000 project.
Garry Middle School
What: additions
Cost: $1.68 million
Scheduled completion date: end of August
Features:
* gymnasium
* heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system
North Central High School
What: remodel and expansion project
Cost: phase one - $300,000, phase two - $3 million
Scheduled completion date: phase one - end of August, phase two - August 2000
Features:
* remodel, expand library
* remodel, expand locker rooms
* second phase project to create a new 25,000-square-foot practice gym, wrestling room, weight room, health room
* four new science classrooms
Built in 1982 and designed for 1,200 students, North Central High School has always been too small.
“We’ve always had at least 1,500 students,” said Principal Michael McGuire. “Everything’s been a little too small.”
The projects at North Central will reorganize the locker rooms, making them more efficient, and greatly enhance the library’s capabilities, McGuire said.
The new gym, scheduled to get underway this month, will provide much-needed space — many teams can’t even practice on campus now, McGuire said. It will be located along Howard Street, replacing the three southeast tennis courts.
District 81 high schools
What: science classrooms and auditorium remodel projects
Cost: $888,000
Scheduled completion date: end of August
Features:
* upgrading equipment and furniture in most science classrooms at Shadle, North Central and Rogers high schools
* remodel of Shadle High School auditorium
John Mannix, plant and facilities director for District 81, said there will be “some work done in most classrooms.”
Several rooms that served as science classrooms did not have running water, natural gas or lab tables with chemical-resistant tops. Some classes will receive those upgrades, as well as new cabinets, work benches and demonstration tables.
Others will be completely gutted and rebuilt to current standards.
Shadle’s auditorium will receive mostly behind-the-scenes electrical upgrades, which will improve sound and lighting quality. The control booth will also be modified.
Gonzaga Preparatory School
What: major renovation project
Cost: $10 million
Scheduled completion date: fall 2001
Features:
* black-box theater
* fine arts building
* student center and cafeteria
* library
* four classrooms
* heating/air conditioning system
* parking lot
Principal Al Falkner is quick to point out that Gonzaga Prep is a good, solid building. But as sturdy as it is, the 1950s classrooms with two electrical outlets can’t keep pace with the needs of today’s technology-rich curriculum.
By the time it’s completed, 90 percent of the school will have been revamped, Falkner said.
”We’re expanding for the kind of things we do,” he said, “and responding to program needs like art.”
The library, which Falkner said has always been too small, will double in size. The new student center will allow all the students to eat lunch together, helping to create a more unified campus, Falkner said.
St. George’s School
What: remodel and expansion project
Cost: $9.5 million
Scheduled completion date: fall 2000
Features:
* new 12,000-square-foot performing arts auditorium and music facility
* 16 classrooms
* library
Like a new high school graduate, St. George’s School is doing its share of growing and moving.
Bonnie Morrow, building chairman, said that as St. George’s has been running out of space, officials have also been planning to increase enrollment by 100 students.
So, the old middle school was torn down to make room for a new upper school. The current upper school will be remodeled as middle school, which also will include sixth-graders.
The new space will allow the school to offer a greater variety of courses, Morrow said.
Riverside Schools
What: modernization project
Cost: $9 million
Tentative completion date: end of December 2000
Features:
* modernization of middle school
* modernization of elementary school
* modernization of high school gymnasium
* capping, patching much of the paving at the district’s central site
Recent bids for the Riverside schools’ projects came in too high, so officials now are trying to figure out how to shave $1 million off the project, said facilities manager Greg Minden.
New bids will likely be taken this fall, and construction could start in January 2001, he added.