What’s new at Rogers High

When students at Rogers High School return from winter break, they’re certain to notice a big change: The main entrance is facing east instead of north.

The first of two phases in the school’s $65 million reconstruction project will be complete Wednesday. The state is providing $18 million for the project and the rest was approved by district voters in 2003.

Phase one is a 186,000-square-foot addition to the 80,000-square-foot school. It includes a library, gymnasium, classrooms, more than 600 new computers, lots of storage space, trophy cases and natural light.

The new main entrance is on Pittsburg Street instead of Wellesley.

“It will be more of a ceremonial entrance,” Principal Carole Meyer said.

The new doors open into a large common room where the ceiling is two stories high and floor-to-ceiling windows lining one wall look onto a courtyard with a stage.

A curved balcony – tied into a second-floor hallway – arches over the common room.

Built in 1932, Rogers has undergone upgrades before. In 1998, the auditorium received a $100,000 overhaul in which some of its original colors were restored. Those colors, a muted purple and burnished gold, are reflected throughout the addition.

The new second-floor library boasts a 220-degree view that includes Mount Spokane, Beacon Hill and Browne Mountain.

The new kitchen is called the Pirate Galley. Kitchen employees Thursday made lunch for school staffers, the construction crew and alumni.

Northwest Architecture designed the remodel, and Garco Construction has worked on Phase One for a year and a half. The architecture was intended to complement the old building.

The final phase of the school’s remodel is scheduled to end in January 2009.

That work will include overhauling the old building and clearing the area along Pittsburg Street of portable classrooms and annexes. That space will be reserved for the parking lot and clock tower. The school’s old parking lot will become tennis courts.

“We are on time and on budget with this large construction project,” Mark Anderson, associate superintendent for school support services for Spokane Public Schools, said in a press release. “The public is going to find that their taxes were used wisely and that this remodel will provide a quality school for our students and staff for many years to come.”