Phase I Done! on School Bond Construction Project

 — by Margie Doyle —

Brand-new Career and Technical Education building at the center of the Orcas School District Campus, ready for occupation after Winter Break.

Now that the crowbars and sledgehammers are demolishing the old Orcas Island School District’s middle school-cafeteria building, islanders can really see that  work is well underway on the reconstruction of the campus, approved with an $11.9 M bond vote in 2012.

However, insiders — including teachers, students, administrators, parents and staff — know full well that changes are happening right under their feet everyday, and have been for the last nine months. And thanks to great teamwork, focused on flexibility and transparency, Project Manager Liz LeRoy reports that the project is on budget and ahead of schedule.

Light floods the CTE’s Applied Physics room.

As LeRoy gave a tour of the remodeling and new building completed in Phase I of the project, she repeatedly commended the “great team” of contractors, administrators and architects that have been proactive and flexible. Meaning, that they “see the problem and project out instead of waiting for issues to come to us,” said LeRoy.

Regarding the daily need and response to be flexible, she says, “A lot of interior moves have taken place toward the end product. I have nothing but great things to say about all the staff. [Supt.] Eric Webb has been a great resource for everybody — his leadership makes the project successful.“

Case in point — while the new cafeteria is being built in Phase II, schoolkids are eating the same nutritious breakfasts and hot lunches prepared by cafeteria staff Debbie Guilford, Zach Holley and Bing Mowrey. The meals are prepared at Camp Orkila’s kitchens and driven over to school for serving — in what used to be the weight room in the gym. Food Services Direct Guilford says, “It’s been a pretty smooth switch and has gone better than we anticipated. We’re glad there hasn’t been a dropoff in the number of lunches we serve.”

The new Music Building, north of the “Old Gym” has music rooms and offices in addition to the large Band Room

That proactive and flexible mind-set have paid off: for example, the early completion of the music building. Staff and students moved in after the Martin Luther King holiday in January, a month ahead of schedule. They had expected that the building wouldn’t be ready until after the winter break, Feb. 16-23.

But it hasn’t been a rush job by any means. LeRoy  points out to the commitment to get it right the first time, and to document the solutions so that future work can be done more easily.

Change orders have been minimal, but LeRoy says,  “Change orders are always involved and that’s why contingency funds are built into every schedule. We don’t know what’s underground until we’re there.”

The Middle School science classroom with shelves, storage and light to assist in learning

The public is invited to see OISD and Tiger Construction’s finished products on Thursday, Feb. 26. Superintendent Webb and Project Mananger Liz LeRoy will lead the tour through the completed Phase I elements of the project:

• reconstruction of the former library in the center of campus into a Middle School building with four sizeable classrooms for 7th- and 8th-graders and Special Education students, offices and prep rooms and a commons area. The building is unrecognizable from its earlier library incarnation, and Supt. Webb repeats the students’ first reaction: “We’ve got heat!”
• continuation of the east-west central walkway from the brick elementary school to the bus pickup/dropoff at the High School area. Leroy calls this the “backbone” that will connect the campus better
• the new music building behind the “Old Gym,” complete with advanced acoustic design (including curtains and wall baffle tiles), three music practice rooms, an office, and a large, separate room to store musical instruments, accessible without interrupting music classes or rehearsals and for after-hour needs. Leroy emphasized the flexibility of the overall plan, and of the music rooms specifically, in that the room is connected on the south side to the stage in the gym, and in that additional rooms to the music building may be added to the north side of the building

The walkway forms the new “backbone” of the Orcas School District campus, linking the High School, Middle School and Elementary Schools in a straight path

• landscaping and grading of the area between the elementary school and the music building that will serve as an open space and outdoor gathering area for students;
• the Career and Technical Education building, west of the high school building. This long-awaited building is highly functional with huge doors allowing for indoor-outdoor construction, testing and mobilization of students’ projects. The new CTE complex incorporates necessary elements such as dust collection, sinks, ceiling beams and flooring in a design that would suit an industrial museum. Throughout the building, from the art room to the applied physics room to the woodworking room, are inter-room windows and glass doors to encourage the spirit of collaboration, Leroy says. Storage rooms, a kiln room and a loft above the woodworking room where lumber  may be stored are part of the new building, which is connected to the High School. The building has an indoor-outdoor quality, with large “garage” doors to open so that  students can work on projects outdoors.

Once the electrical, security and technical systems are installed this week, the students will return from winter break on Feb. 23 to the new CTE building.

CTE Director Kari Schuh says, “I am beyond excited for students and teachers to take possession of the brand new CTE facility. Our teachers were able to have a great deal of input into the design and construction of the rooms so this building addition reflects their vision and needs in combination with the amount of funds available to complete the task.”

The new classrooms will continue to offer courses in Applied Physics, Bike Mechanics, Solar and Sustainable Energy Systems, Basic Woodshop, STEM Guitar Building, Art for Life, and Advanced Art. The design ethics of transparency and flexibility, while keeping maintenance in mind, have governed the entire project generally and the CTE building construction specifically. Natural light has been a priority through all the buildings, with skylights supplementing the light from windows and doors.

Tiger Construction builders now go to work on Phase II, the new library/cafeteria building, scheduled for completion by Sept. 2015

Moving ahead, Phase II is now the  focus of Tiger Construction — remodeling the former middle school – cafeteria building to house the library, cafeteria, computer lab and culinary/home economics/farm-to-classroom programs. The hard-core demolition of the building, first constructed in 1981, is underway during the Winter Break.

That phase is scheduled for completion in September of this year. In June, Phase III will begin, to install an oval car drop-off area north of the intersection of School Road and Madrona Street.

On Thursday, Feb. 26 at 3:30 p.m., the public is invited to tour the completed Phase I buildings. The School Board will also be meeting that day, at 5:30 p.m. in the Modular Building behind the School District Administration offices. For more information, go to orcasislandschools.org/pages/2012_Bond_Projects or call 376-2284.