Old building, new purpose; Students, staff settling into renovated Support Services Building

After sitting vacant and dark in recent years, part of the old Powell High School building has a new look and new purpose.

The remaining one-story section of the old PHS — now known as the Support Services Building — underwent significant renovations. Support staff and operations have stayed in the building, and students have returned to its hallways and classrooms.

“There’s a lot more that goes on in the building than people tend to think,” said Alex Spitz, an administrative assistant who works in the building’s main office. “It gives all of the Support Services (maintenance, technology, print shop, warehouse, credit union) departments a home, provides lots of space for any kind of staff development, plus three teachers have brand-new classrooms, which is a great improvement from the deteriorating Home Ec Cottage.”

The Pre-Kindergarten Transition Program, in-school suspension program and classrooms for students with special needs moved from the cottage to the Support Services Building.

Todd Wilder, coordinator of the school district’s support services, said he is glad the district was allowed to keep the 25,414-square-foot section of the former high school and use it for support services and learning.

The Wyoming School Facilities Commission had directed Park County School District No. 1 to reduce its facilities’ overall square footage, based on its student population. Powell leaders put forward a plan to eventually sell the old Home Economics Cottage, while keeping and renovating more space in the old high school to accommodate the programs that had been housed in the cottage. The state agreed and provided funding for the project.

“I think we’re real fortunate that we were able to get the School Facilities Commission to allow us to do this — they could have just said, ‘Tear it down and just keep the maintenance (part of the building),’” Wilder said.

By keeping more of the old high school, the district was able to create a one-of-a-kind facility, he said.

“I think the building is a great addition to the district as a central place,” Spitz said in an email to the Tribune.

The entire one-story section was renovated as part of a roughly $2.8 million project with Sletten Construction of Wyoming, which also included demolishing the old three-story section and cafeteria/lunchroom area.

While most of the old PHS is gone, alumni will recognize features of their old school in the renovated section.

Part of the old PHS library remains, and though it has a new modern look, it’s still used for learning — and it’s likely Mike “Starc” Starcevich, the late PHS librarian, would be happy with that.

“It’s fun to show people the transformation from areas such as, ‘This used to be Starc’s library, and now it’s a dynamic multi-purpose room for any age and occasion,’” Spitz said.

Original walls and floors were kept in many areas. Spitz, a PHS alum, likes that the renovations preserved some nostalgia, including the hallway tiles.

“It was a challenge to preserve those tiles — it was difficult to work around,” Wilder said.

The old hallway floors are terrazzo — a material consisting of marble, quartz, granite, glass and other chips.

The state doesn’t pay for terrazzo flooring in K-12 schools anymore, because of its expense.

“It’s indestructible,” Wilder said. “And as beat up as this floor was, Mike Brooks — I would call him our district hard floor expert — he brought it back to life.”

Skylights also were kept for natural sunlight.

As part of the renovation, a new heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system was added, and fire-suppression sprinklers were added throughout the building. A secure entryway also was constructed.

The building is divided into two areas, with classrooms and staff training rooms in the front section and print shop, warehouse, credit union, maintenance and technology departments in the back section.

During the renovation, which started last spring and was completed in the fall, employees continued working in the back section.

“There was some impact,” Wilder said. “It was kind of hard.”

Two training rooms are available for staff and students and can be used by the community as well, Wilder said.

Previously, staff training took place in the School Administration Building Board Room, which is smaller and “not really set up for it,” Wilder said.

“You can reconfigure this (new) room to your heart’s delight,” Wilder said. “It can be a real collaboration space for working groups.”

The renovated rooms have the full technological capabilities of any classroom in the district, he said.

Young children in the district’s Pre-K Transition Program love the technology in their new classroom, said Holly Howell, who oversees the Pre-K program.

“The new classroom is an awesome environment for preschoolers,” Howell said in an email Tuesday. “It is spacious — lots of room for learning centers within the classroom ... the district did the remodel just right.”

Where the old three-story section once stood, now there will be open green space. Most of the mature trees on the site were preserved, and a sprinkler system was added.

Change orders — which included addressing unforeseen structural issues with some of the walls, adding an irrigation well, extra asbestos abatement and adding some red metal panels for aesthetics — added $181,301 to the contract amount.

“Even with this additional work, we were under the amount allocated by the state in total funds for the project,” Wilder said.

The final payment for the renovation work is slated to be made to Sletten Construction in the next few weeks.

New classroom wings to be completed at end of school year

Construction and classes have occurred simultaneously this year as the second phase of the new Powell Middle School is built.

Both will come to a close soon.

The goal is for construction on the new classroom section to be completed around the same time classes finish this spring.

“We’re still planning on beginning to move in as soon as school is out in May,” said Todd Wilder, coordinator of support services for the school district. “It’s really ambitious, but Groathouse is working hard. They’re committed to meeting their schedule.”

Groathouse Construction is the general contractor for this phase of the state-funded $16.36 million project, which features separate classroom wings for sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

Work is progressing well on the different wings, with the seventh-grade wing mostly painted and the eighth-grade section close to that stage, said Monty Wardell, the project manager with Groathouse Construction. Sheetrock is going up in the sixth-grade wing.

“It’ll be a good teaching environment,” Wardell said of the new building.

It has been a challenge to work on the new building while still ensuring classes can take place in the old school, Wilder said. For example, crews had to integrate the electrical and heating systems between the old and new buildings.

“Once this new section gets done, that will take away a lot of complications,” Wilder said.

Groathouse crews won’t have much time to catch their breath once they finish the building this spring. They must then switch gears and begin tearing down the old classroom building this summer when kids aren’t on campus. As asbestos abatement and demolition work goes on this summer, crews also will work to remodel the gym.

“It’ll be simultaneously going on,”  Wardell said.

The gym renovation project includes new flooring, remodeled locker rooms and bathrooms, new plumbing and updates to the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system.

“It will be a new gymnasium, but with the old walls,” Wilder said. “It’s a lot of work this summer.”

That work has to be completed by the time school starts in August, Wardell said.

Once the gym remodel and demolition projects are complete, crews then will build a new south-end wing for art, band and choir classes during the 2015-16 school year. 

A new parking lot also will be constructed at that time.

Though the phased building project is a challenge, school leaders wanted to keep the middle school at its current site instead of building elsewhere.

“Four years ago, when we started on this journey, we involved the community in assessing all the different options,” Wilder said. “The number one highest scoring option was to keep the school on this site. We wanted the school in the heart of the town. 

“We only have one middle school, so we wanted to keep it as centrally located as we could.”

Last month, Powell school board members toured the project and saw some of its unique features, including the indoor/outdoor science lab, courtyard, a stadium seating area that will overlook the commons area and solar tubes that provide natural light in classrooms.

Wilder praised the work of Groathouse Construction, saying they’ve met deadlines, maintained a clean and safe site and have good subcontractors on the project.

One day last month, 103 people were working on the site. The daily average is about 50 workers, said Rod Kilian, project superintendent with Groathouse.

After a bitterly cold start to winter, warm weather in recent weeks was welcomed by construction crews. On a sunny afternoon this week, crews did exterior brick work on the front of the building.

“The first part, back in November, we had some unseasonably cold temperatures, which slowed down steel erection and those kinds of things,” Wardell said. “Now we’re really enjoying the nicer weather, for sure.”