Construction: under budget, ahead of schedule

By Katie Barnes

September 24, 2008

New, fresh, beautiful. These are some of the adjectives used by people describing the new construction in the Silver Lake school district.

According to Dr. Randy Freeman, superintendent, the construction at the high school is nearing its end.

“We were a little bit behind in the office area because we had some problems with the air conditioning unit but everything else surprisingly is ahead of schedule. They are still working on the shop and library. The contract said we were expected to get the building by Dec. 23, but I would expect the building finished by Thanksgiving,” Freeman explained.

The new shop and library are two major projects in the high school. According to Rick Blush, industrial arts teacher, the shop is being expanded so that wood and metal classes will be separated, which will answer safety concerns.

According to Mary LaMar, librarian, the new library will have around 70 new computers in the lab. It will be located north of the current special education rooms. The computer area will have a pull-out wall so that two different classes can teach while in the lab. She said it also would provide more workspace for the students. The old library will be used to for new classrooms for the special education department.

Freeman said he is pleased with the construction results. He said that the beginning of school did not interfere with the construction and there have not been any major problems that caused too much of a hassle for personnel or students.

“I feel the construction is going well. Our general contractors, McPherson, have really been doing a good job. They have been really good to work with and they have been responsive to the issues we have brought up. One problem was that our original design architect who designed all of the work ended up leaving the firm, so we ended up picking up an architect midway through,” stated Freeman.

He cleared up any confusion there may be about the budget.

“Actually, we are under the projected budget and so we’re going to go do some things that probably otherwise wouldn’t have done. Like for example, the area between the new library and ball field got paved. The money from the bond has to go toward the building like for light fixtures and what we have left will go to the taxpayers for tax reduction,” answered Freeman.

Many teachers and students have opinions about how they think the construction is going.

“I think it’s something that needed to be done but occasionally it can be a hassle with lots of noise, but the advantages are better. Some days there is a lull of activity and others there is a flurry,” said Jerry Bollig, science teacher.

“I’m very excited for the new library because it’s going to have more new space with windows and natural light. I think overall it’s going to be more inviting for the students with new matching furniture,” replied Mary LaMar, librarian.

“I think the library is going to be pretty cool and the construction has gone pretty well except for probably a few issues, but that was expected going into the deal,” stated C.J. Hamilton, physical education teacher.