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New look for Washington High School, at least on outside
Minimal impact on students expected from construction
WASHINGTON — With a summer’s worth of construction in the rearview mirror, students at Washington High School on the first day of class this week will likely notice a few changes from their last time on campus, though most of the renovations are outside of hallways and classrooms.
Superintendent Willie Stone said the build-out was impressive so far.
“A lot of great things are going on right now, we’re happy with the progress,” he said. “Things are just going great, so, really excited about where we’re at and where we’re going.”
Perhaps most noteworthy is a two-story assembly of concrete blocks forming the structural walls of the future high school wing on the building’s northwest side. While not yet completed, the change makes for a radically different view of and from the baseball field.
That construction required moving the field’s fence a few feet, and installing a towering net to keep stray balls out of the construction zone.
Near the front entrance, a massive flat space marks a future gym addition, where crews expect to start and finish construction in the next few months. Also of note is the parking lot, which will have a little less space on the building’s east side, although some new stalls have been carved out for staff.
“There’s a lot going on,” Carl A. Nelson & Co. Project Manager Jordan Hutcheson said. “We’re actually ahead of schedule on the high school by a couple weeks or so. We’re off to a really good start and we hope to carry that momentum here until the project is complete.”
Very little of the work will be noticeable from inside the building, according to Hutcheson. Other than a few temporary walls put up for dust control and a handful of closed rooms at the tip of the once-and-future junior high wing.
“We’re wrapping up little odds and ends, but it shouldn’t be a disturbance to the students,” he said. “If there is, it should be minimal. There’s not that much work left to do. If there is a little bit of work, it’s tying into rough-ins that we’ve already completed.”
The plan is to finish the high school wing before next school year, essentially completing “phase one” of the project.
Doing so will take students and teachers out of the northeast section of the school, freeing that area up for renovations as the future home of Washington Middle School students. That process — phase two — will start shortly before phase one construction ends.
“That construction isn’t planned to begin until next summer,” Hutcheson said. “We’re still going to be doing site work and little odds and ends through next summer, into early fall.”
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
