New Middle School Plans Aired At Meeting

Published 2:40 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

Felix Campanella and Terry Murakami of the

architectural firm of Johnston _ Campanella _ Murakami

_ Brummitt & Co., and School District 410

administrators presented to the school board and interested

citizens preliminary schematic drawings of the new

middle school last Monday, March 15. The architects

indicated that preliminary planning was about 60% completed.

Total estimated cost including site preparation

and landscaping is estimated at $1,600,000. The student

capacity of the building will be 500, and total square

footage will be 51,200 sq. ft.

The new facility will provide flexibility for

varying types of teaching patterns by including varying sizes

of instructional areas and moveable walls. Included in

the plans are provisions for a “field house” for physical

education rather than a conventional gymnasium; a

multi-purpose area that can be used for student eating,

assemblies, and other purposes; a fine arts and industrial

arts area; and an instructional materials center.

Provision has been made for future expansion of

the facility to provide for an additional 125 students.

As was indicated to the school board at the

March 8th meeting, it is expected that preliminary plans

and preliminary state board approval will be sought at

the July meeting of the State Board of Education.

Approval of final plans and specifications will be sought at

the following meeting of the State Board of Education.

It is expected that construction will begin this

fall. School administrators and architects are not as

optimistic as they were earlier about occupying the new

building at the beginning of the 1972 _ 73 school year.

It now appears that it may be late fall or early winter

before the building is ready for occupancy

The board of directors are presently studying

alternatives related to preparation of the site for

construction of the new facility. Problems related to utilizing

the site have arisen because of flood plain zoning and

the soil conditions at the site. A decision on these matters

is expected in the near future.