School construction on schedule

Central Valley School District students will start classes in their own schools this fall, despite earlier concerns that construction schedules and overcrowding would displace them for a while.

Greenacres Middle School’s renovation project is back on schedule, and University High School manipulated its schedule to maximize the available classroom space for its growing student body, Superintendent Mike Pearson said.

The middle school project, which involves reshaping classrooms, raising the gym floor and making other changes, had fallen behind schedule in November and January because of cold weather. There was speculation that teachers wouldn’t get into their classrooms with enough time to prepare for the school year and that students would have to continue taking classes at the old University High School, now called University Center, as they had during the last school year.

But Pearson said the district should get an occupancy permit around Aug. 15.

“The classrooms are pretty much done. The ceiling tiles are in. The gym floor went down a couple weeks ago,” he said.

Pearson said some minor work might continue while teachers are arranging their rooms, though.

Meanwhile, University High School found ways to cope with the 1,900 students – 500 of whom are freshmen – expected to enroll there this fall.

District officials said in April that classes might have to be held at Chester Elementary or Horizon middle schools to accommodate the growth spurt, but Pearson said administrators built a schedule that won’t require additional classrooms. The school also will move a technology lab into the library, freeing up the lab’s former space.

“Our goal was to keep the kids on campus,” Pearson said.

The actual number of students attending U-Hi in September could be fewer than 1,900 because some students are in the Running Start program and some take classes in the skills center, Pearson said. However, the number also could grow by the time school starts, he said.

Quarters are cramped at U-Hi just two years after the district built the school.

District and Spokane County employees recently studied population trends and are projecting even more growth, including a spurt on the district’s east end, by 2008. Pearson said Greenacres Middle and Greenacres Elementary schools will be hit hardest.

“The board will have active discussions in August, September and October on how to handle the spike in growth on the east side,” Pearson said.

That discussion could include school-boundary changes or a bond proposal to build more schools. In 2003, voters rejected a $25 million construction bond that would have paid for a new school in Liberty Lake.

A new batch of students, this time from South Pines Elementary School, will move into University Center this fall as their building is remodeled. That project will add 4,300 square feet of floor space to the 45-year-old school.