December 20, 2008
Cold Won't Hamper CASHS Work
As Chambersburg prepares for a wet weekend, the school district's construction experts say they don't expect the next few months of winter weather to slow progress on expansion of the high school. "It's going to slow us down some, but we're ahead on some parts as well," said Kevin Weller, construction projects manager for Chambersburg Area School District. "We're confident we'll finish it on time."
The $73.8 million project, which will expand the 214,000-square-foot school to 510,000 square feet, should be completed in time for the start of the 2011 school year.
For now, crews are working outside as much as possible before extreme temperatures forces them indoors until spring. Outdoor masonry work will shut down for the season, but indoor work will continue. "There's never going to be zero activity," Weller said.
Work is underway on the new gym, which will include a suspended running track with a weight room and additional facilities upstairs. Its roofing is 85 percent complete, while interior masonry is just over half complete. When renovations on the old 36,000-square-foot gym are finished it will have new locker rooms. The old rooms will be converted to family consumer science and child development classrooms. The newer gym will more than double the older, adding 80,500 square feet of instructional space (including the upstairs rooms) for physical education teachers.
The goal is to finish it by July 1, after which time the corridor linking both gyms will be finished. Not confined only to athletic facilities, crews are working along the whole side of the high school to the back of the auditorium.
In front of the gym, a buffet-style food court is being built to replace the former technology education wing. Instead of waiting in line for kitchen workers to dish up their food, students will choose their own meals and head to one of eight pay stations. The current cafeteria will be turned into classroom space. Its replacement will be more spacious, Weller said.
Crews are almost finished erecting the steel in the food court. Meanwhile, masonry on the classroom addition is at first floor height, and second floor framing is beginning. As work progresses along the side of the building toward the auditorium, an outdoor courtyard will be built, walled in on all sides. Weller said it would be up to school administrators to determine how to use it - either for outdoor eating space or for class lectures on nice days. During the summer, crews will gut the district administration building for renovations. Its current occupants will work out of cubicles on the old gym floor for a year.
Construction will also start on the guidance offices and new library next school year.
Upcoming Projects
The architect, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates is currently working on plans for CASD's academic wing at Franklin County Career and Technology Center. The district hopes to go to bid in spring 2009. Plans are also still underway for the district's two middle schools.
When students return to school in the completed high school in 2011, ninth graders from J. Frank Faust Junior High School will join them. Faust will be converted to a second middle school, complementing Chambersburg Area Middle School.
The project to renovate both schools still has to be voted on by the school board. Several options are available. Costs range from a minimum of $5.5 million to a maximum of $49.36 million. Minimum improvements would update the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, stage floors, bus ramps and more.
The most comprehensive middle school project would turn the CAMS auditorium into a library while building an addition for a new auditorium, stage and music rooms. The football field would be improved and a synthetic track installed. Under the same plan, Faust would get an addition for the administrative offices while classrooms, the kitchen and the cafeteria would be renovated.
There is no timeline set for the middle school project yet.
By ROB LUFF Staff writer
Publicopinion.com
Article: Cold Won't Hamper CASHS Work
Posted: 12/20/2008 02:00:00 AM EST