As students arrived at school Aug. 17, they were greeted by large trucks, men in hard hats, and lots of cautionary tape. Students and parents alike were baffled by the drop-off and parking system, finding themselves blocked by cones and yellow tape when trying to maneuver to a different part of the parking lot. And as the first day began, students sat in their classrooms trying to hear the teacher above the distracting noises outside and the shaking of the room.
The long awaited new wing construction had begun.
“The addition will have three new science classrooms. But it will also have a couple of what you might call ‘replacement classrooms’ because, to build the addition, you have to build a hallway to get to it, which will do away with classrooms, so each of those on the first and second floor will result in classrooms being put in the addition as well. So there’ll be a couple new classrooms, one being the Life Skills class that Ms. Haslag teaches out in the annexed building right now,” Principal Nathan Hoven said. “Mrs. Hermann’s office will move into the addition, and it [the construction] will also provide a brand new entranceway-one for during the school day. We envision that is where buses will drop students off; parents can come in the building through that way, and also when there’s, say, a sporting event in the gym or a band concert in the gym, that would be the main entrance for spectators as well.”
In the midst of all the work on these additions, there has been some slight confusion with parking. Hoven thinks that although the first few days were hectic, the parking really has worked out well.
“I think the parking situation will last the entire school year. I know it’s different, but we actually feel like it’s going really smoothly,” Hoven said. “Obviously, when everybody showed up for school the first day, we knew we were going to be kind of re-training people: ‘This is where students need to go; this is where parents need to go.’ We spent two or three days really directing traffic and monitoring that to hope to get it to go smoothly. Beyond that, it really has gone smoothly. Yeah, it’s different, but it certainly hasn’t caused traffic issues like construction maybe did at the Junior High. As far as our traffic flow affecting the surrounding community or really causing people long delays, I don’t think that’s been an issue. Certainly, it’s different and it has taken people a little bit to get used to it, but I think it’s gone really smoothly.”
Considering the construction began in late summer, little has been completed. Though, slowly but surely, the wing is in the works.
“Most of what they [the construction workers] are doing now is foundations and some of the ground level work to get ready, so you don’t necessarily see a building rising up out of the ground just yet, but you’re getting a lot of that other work that has to be done in order to build,” Hoven said.
Hoven believes that although the construction is taking place during school hours, it it will not disrupt students’ learning very much.
“As far as our students and teachers and the building are concerned, we hope there are very little changes. The idea is that, to the extent possible, we just go on with life as normal while they’re building. We don’t expect any additional changes to traffic flow, or to cut off anymore areas of parking or anything like that. Certainly in some parts of the building, some noises from construction are louder than others, so classes that are right next to that certainly at times will be louder and more of a distraction, but we really don’t believe that inside the building, you should notice any difference necessarily coming up,” Hoven said. “So as we move along, there really shouldn’t be big steps that are noticeable to the students because we’ve tried to set it up in a way that life can continue basically as normal inside the building. There will be at some point probably more construction workers, which means more construction vehicles needing to park, and just sort of a general busier atmosphere, but I really don’t expect that to cause any disruptions in the school. “
The estimated time for completion is in May. Therfore, the construction will continue for some time. However, Hoven encourages students to stay positive.
“I think the one kind of general statement is that construction does cause inconveniences and it can sometimes change the way you have to do things, but if you just always remember the end goal, there’s going to be some great new classrooms and new parts of the building, a great new entrance to the building,” Hoven said. “If you always keep in mind how good the end result’s going to be, then it makes it a lot easier to deal with the little inconveniences that might pop up.”
