During the summer, construction crews remodeled the E-building and expanded the K-building to accommodate classrooms relocating from the first row of the V-building portables — which will be removed in late November, according to Assistant Principal of Facilities Dr. Mycal Hixon.
The K-building underwent construction starting in January and is projected to be finished for the first day of school on Aug. 14. The E-building started construction on June 9 and is expected to finish ahead of schedule by Thanksgiving break. The portables served as temporary classrooms for teachers who relocated from the A- and B-building construction project during the 2022-23 school year. Now that the building renovations are completed, these teachers will move back into the E-building, which is being remodeled to accommodate their new classrooms as it had served as a temporary main office during the 2022-23 construction.
According to Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi, the move will be extremely beneficial for the staff, as moving teachers
closer to the rest of campus will significantly improve the learning environment and increase their teaching efficiency.
“The portables were only a temporary solution for the classrooms,” he said. “The permanent space contains new teaching materials and a better learning environment, being more beneficial for students and teachers.”
Hixon echoed this sentiment, stating that moving teachers closer to the rest of staff on main campus will help foster interdepartmental communication.
“By moving the teachers back into the main campus, it gives them more opportunities for collaboration with their colleagues and less isolation,” he said.
The construction crew also remodeled the interior for the vacant E-building to be suitable for classrooms again by demolishing the interior walls while constructing new partition walls to provide better internal structure and to help divide the classrooms up. The crew also redid the ceiling and lights and demolished the floors to install new rubber flooring, according to Sedqi. The remodeling work in the E-building was mainly interior, but the crew also refinished the exterior walls with a paint job.
Two social studies teachers will move into two newly created classrooms in the E-building as soon as they are finished. In the
meantime, they will continue to teach in the portables. Another room in the E-building was established in addition to those two, meant for the Information Technology crew who will also relocate from the village into the E-building once finished.
The K-building has also been interiorly remodeled and restructured to create two new science classrooms with higher ceilings and lab stations to accommodate the two science teachers who were originally relocated to the village as well. During the construction process in the K-building, the crew ran into a significant amount of challenges — mainly unforeseen conditions occurred throughout the construction process in the K-building such as having to demo walls to be more suitable for the structure.
Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton expressed her excitement on the move and reuniting the social studies department.
“The idea of them having more opportunities to cultivate collegial relationships while collaborating is very exciting,” she said.
According to Sedqi, the E-building project is nearly complete with plans for final touches, including installing floor tiles, finishing all of the data lines, outlets and cables and securing a strong internet connection.
To keep students updated about these campus changes and other construction, Hixon plans to release maps and more information to help guide the community.
With the removal of the first row of portables, Sedqi explains that parking spaces are projected to be added. Still, Hixon hopes
to involve students in the process and gather their input for other ways of use.
“We’re looking forward to moving our teachers back into their original spaces and what the future may entail for a space like this once it opens back up,” Hixon said. “I do think it would be a great opportunity to get feedback from students on that as well.”
