New High School On Course To Be $600,000 Under Budget | Winchester Star

January 05, 2012

BERRYVILLE, Va - The building is still full of workmen, and boxes of screws and reels of electrical wire, but the new Clarke County High School is edging up on completion.

Substantial completion will occur by Jan. 23. After that, general contractor Howard Shock­ey & Sons will begin completing odds and ends; school personnel will train on how to run the heating, cooling, electri­cal and other systems in the building; the school will get a final cleaning; and by March 23, it is scheduled to be turned over to the Clarke School Board.

Former School Board member Robi­na Rich Bouffault, who has been head­ing the group's construction committee, said in her final report on the project that the building is on schedule and approx­imately $600,000 under budget. She invited everyone to a special rib­bon cutting at 11 a.m. on April 28.

Shockey's bid for the project came in at $23.3 million in June 2010. The sur­prisingly low bid left $7.3 million in pro­ject funds, which the School Board plans to use to renovate the existing high school for use as an elementary school.

Castelli said fixtures and furniture are scheduled for delivery in May and June, and the school is expected to be ready to receive its first students next August.

The new building covers about 162,000 square feet, compared to the 67,000 square feet in the existing high school. It sits on a 57.8 acre section of land at Mosby Boulevard and West Main Street.

He said the new facility is designed to handle 884 students according to Virginia Department of Education standards. However, the "core facilities" - the media center, cafeteria, auditorium and gymnasium - are capable of handling 1,000, Superintendent Michael Murphy said. The new school was also designed so that another eight classrooms can be added to reach the 1,000-student level.

The classrooms are in a wing on the south side of the building. Murphy said that at between 800 and 850 square feet they are 200 or so square feet larger than the classrooms in the current high school. Each classroom will have a white board with cork board wings on one wall and an electronic smart board on another. Across an extra-wide hall from the main classrooms are seven science classrooms, each with about 1,100 square feet of space.

Six rooms are set up to be laboratories for various sciences, while one is a general science classroom. There is also a classroom for the nursing program that doubles as a sick bay for students - with its own bathroom and adjacent area for cots. Special education rooms at one end of the wing are equipped with a stove, refrigerator and sink, and a washer and dryer so students in these programs can practice life skills, Murphy said. The area can be divided for smaller classes and has its own bathroom and shower. The washer and dryer can also be used if students have difficulties during the day.

Flexibility and multi-use are watchwords for Murphy as he points out how the various spaces have been configured in the new school.

The 1,100- seat auditorium has been set up so the bleacher seats at the rear can be folded up and stored when not needed. The rear part of the auditorium can be closed off and used for smaller events, such as a job fair, he said. The gymnasium, with its bright orange and blue trim and Eagles insignia, can also be divided up for various practices. Behind the auditorium is a green room, that can be used by performers as a costume room, and can be divided if needed.

It can also be used for a music or practice room for small choral groups, Murphy said. The next-door band room has a storage area with built-in cages to secure instruments.

There are separate locker rooms for boys and girls sports and for boys and girls teams.

The sports medicine office has a whirlpool for injured athletes.

The wrestling area has a mechanical device to pull up the heavy mats. It can also double for aerobics or jazzercize and other physical education classes. And there is a weight room. There is even a room for computer repairs, with a small visual arts studio attached, and an agricultural science area with a shop section including a 14-foot door to move machinery in and out.

Everywhere, Murphy said, there is lots of light. Entering the main entrance to the east, with the roomy cafeteria area to the right, the  open concept plan of the school allows students or others to look down the wide terrazzo- floored corridor all the way to the media center on the west side of the building. Two art rooms on the left have windowed upper walls to take advantage of that light. Also on the left, a student lounge area looks through floor- to- ceiling windows at an open- air courtyard that students can use for alfresco dining on pleasant days.

"We have great natural daylight," Murphy said. He's also proud of the full-service kitchen, which features a walk- in refrigerator and freezer. "It's an amazing kitchen for a school," he said. On the north side of the building, a loading dock will allow the kitchen to be stocked efficiently.

Murphy said community groups will be invited to tour the building at some point so local residents can get to know it. High school students will be trained to act as tour guides to their new alma mater.

Source: Val Van Meter, Winchester Star

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