A local Wabash Valley school corporation is diving into a 33 million dollar renovation.
It will bring change to two schools, and with that dollar amount, you can guess it’s a major project.
Clay Community School Corporation broke ground today at both Clay City Junior/Senior High School and Northview High School.
Education is all about progress and readying a child for success in life, and having buildings up to standard will help achieve that goal.
“These are needs we have,” says Jeff Fritz, superintendent of Clay Community Schools.
Inside, Clay City Junior/Senior High School, the needs are apparent.
“These buildings are 30-years-old,” says Superintendent Fritz. “No different than your home. It’s time to remodel.”
It may look like just another normal high school cafeteria at first glance, but when you take a closer look, it’s an “Auditeria.” A mix between a cafeteria and an auditorium. The plan is to renovate and update the space, along with the band room, parts of the gymnasium, weight room and more.
“On November first, we intend to be on sight to actually start doing some demolition and breaking ground,” says Lance Gassert, Garmong Construction project director.
If students have class in the metal working, welding room, to leave, they have to walk through their classroom, through a functioning classroom, and then through the woodworking room just to gain access to the hallway.
“We are not just looking at this as an academic project, but a community project,” says Superintendent Fritz. “We wanna, you know, attract people to come live here. We want to attract families to move here. So our students now, this is where their children and their grandchildren go to school.”
16 million will go to Clay City High School and roughly 17 million dollars will be designated to Northview High School.
Much like Clay City, Northview will be receiving some of the same renovations, like a weight room, a student activity center, but instead of a band addition, Northview will see four new classrooms.
“We’re going to be able to house a lot of our departments together, which is going to lead to increased collaboration in the classrooms,” says Chris Mauk, principal of Northview High School. “Teachers are going to be able to work together on common cirriculum and common goals. And I think, across the board, you’re going to see our students benefit from that.”
The project is set to be completed by February of 2019.
It will take some time to complete all areas slated for renovations.
Clay City Junior/Senior High School Renovations
Student Activity Center Addition:
Two basketball courts
Two volleyball courts
Bleacher seating for 250
Athletic locker rooms
P.E. locker rooms
Training room
Weight room
Team room
Public restrooms
Music Center Addition:
Practice rooms
Music library
Office
Band/vocal room
Uniform closet
Other:
New main entrance
Administration renovation
Science classroom renovations
Circular track completion
New special education suite
Vocational studies renovation
Auditeria renovations skylight addition
New faculty support spaces
Northview High School Renovations
Student Activity Center Addition:
Two basketball courts
Two volleyball courts
Walking track
Six badminton courts
Bleacher seating for 280
Weight room
Wrestling room
Public restrooms
Music Center Addition:
Band room
Choir room
Percussion room
Instrument storage
Practice rooms
Music library
Offices
Other:
New main entrance
