Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A group of 21 people gathered in the Colfax Junior-Senior High School library Monday night for a public meeting on design development for upcoming school construction, funded by the $18.9 million bond passed by the voters in February.
Amy Browne-Minden, project manager for Design West architects in Pullman, presented drawings on a screen, before which those attending looked at individual room sketches on two presentation boards.
"This is the first 3-D unveiling," said Browne-Minden, who attended with Alyssa Andersen, intern architect.
Browne-Minden began the meeting with a note that the architects are halfway through the design development phase, after which construction documents will follow, then a public bid process at the end of January with construction to begin before the end of this school year, in April or May 2019.
She noted that parts of the design have not been decided yet.
Showing slides on a screen, the project manager took the assembled through a look at what the bond construction may look like.
Large changes include the addition of a 1,400 square-foot STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) laboratory and a commons room for junior high students.
Gym
Images of the gym showed the boys' locker room changing from "gang showers" style to individual stalls, same for the girls' locker room.
The training room – formerly between the two – will be moved to the southwest corner of the gym with its own entry. A 12-foot wide bridge, extending over the bleachers behind one of the basketball hoops – will connect the two balconies in the gym. The bridge will hold weight equipment and a 48-inch passageway to remain clear at all times.
Changes to the gym's ceiling include taking out the existing ceiling of acoustical tiles to re-do lighting and make HVAC upgrades, leaving the original (higher) barred ceiling, with the metal painted blue in the drawings.
"In our opinion it looks better," Browne-Minden said. "We're taking the ceiling down and prettying up what was there."
Auditorium
The auditorium will feature all-new stage rigging, lighting and seating, with increased seating on the balcony. No complete seat count is decided as of yet.
"It'll look like a brand new room, and it'll function like a brand new room," Browne-Minden said.
The walls will have updated finishes.
Entry-way
For security purposes, the front entryway of the junior-senior high school will be redesigned to "a safe double-entry" in which visitors come in through an open bank of doors into a foyer, as is now, then will be buzzed in through an entry door that goes through the office and into the school. Inside the office entry door will be a small, added waiting area.
Locking
A question came from the public on Monday on the subject about synchronous lockdown in the event of a threat.
The existing security lock-system will remain in which a button can be pressed in either the junior high/high school building or Jennings Elementary, which will automatically lock all doors in both buildings.
"One of the problems with this building is the number of exterior doors, quite honestly," Pugh said, noting that doors of the junior-senior high school that remain locked are often propped-open by students by a rock, a backpack or other, for temporary access.
Browne-Minden indicated later that alarm systems are available which warn of propped-open doors, something that will be discussed further as design development continues.
"How about the glass?" asked another member of the public.
"Bulletproof glass is very expensive and not always as sure as it's touted to be," said Browne-Minden, noting later more discussion on bulletproof glass is to come, including with Ned Warnick of Design West, architect on the Colfax project, who was not available Monday night.
Special education
In the special-education room, proposed changes include adding a kitchen with washer and dryer on one side with an instructional area on the other.
Consumer science laboratory
The first-floor room across from special education will have a dividing wall taken down and a central demonstration cooking island will be put in, among other general technology upgrades.
"We just wanted to update it completely," said Browne-Minden.
Commons
The junior high commons – part of the overall change which focuses the seventh-and-eighth grade students on the first floor – would be built under the library. No size has been decided yet with Browne-Minden estimating it will be in the 2,000 square-foot range.
The room would be used for a student gathering space before school and otherwise.
"Our attempt here was to give seventh-and-eighth graders a place to go," said Browne-Minden.
On the second floor, drawings were shown of a high school commons area with adjacent counselors offices - just up the stairs from the cafeteria.
STEAM laboratory
The room to be constructed on the first floor is now made up of the wood shop and art room, and will not be assigned to any one teacher.
"It would be for what we call messy education," Browne-Minden said. "It is designed to be used by all disciplines... very universal."
Wood shop activity will be moved into the vocational FFA building, under the auspices of Mark Brown, maintenance director, and Michael Heitstuman, FFA teacher.
The art room will be moved upstairs to what is now a computer lab.
Library
The junior-senior library will be divided into two areas, two-thirds of it a quiet area with rows of books and in the other third, a more sit-down collaborative space.
"I like to call it the Starbucks effect – the social dynamic of the library," said Browne-Minden.
High school commons
Another in the audience, Casey Jones, asked about the high school commons.
"What's the goodie bag for the kids to go to it?" he said.
Superintendent Jerry Pugh answered, noting that no junior high kids will be there, and more.
"We're gonna tech it up," he said.
Lockers
All student lockers will get replaced.
"The backpacks of today do not fit in the lockers of yesterday," Browne-Minden said.
The present lockers are 12 inches wide, and will change to 15 inches or 18 inches.
Band room
The band room will remain in the same place, receiving updated finishes and updated sound system of acoustical tiles and more.
"We're gonna update it, make it all look spanky and new," said Browne-Minden.
Overall
Wes Claassen, the head of the bond committee, spoke near the end of Monday night's meeting.
"We are maintaining a school bigger than our enrollment allows," he said.
Time of construction will be a year and a half, and due to the size of the school and enrollment, no money will be spent on temporary classrooms – for which a used portable can cost $150,000 to $300,000.
"The last time we brought in a portable it stayed for 30 years," said Mark Clinton, Whitman County treasurer, in attendance at the meeting.
During construction, certain areas of the school will be roped off, while others are used, and vice versa – switching over Christmas break and other holidays or long weekends.
"We're calling it camping for a year and a half," said Pugh.
The next step is for the Colfax school board to review the plans (shown Monday) at their next meeting Oct. 8.
If the board approves, the process moves to construction documents, then to bidding.
Changes to Jennings Elementary will include re-roofing the whole building, minor HVAC changes and upgrades to the old gym.
"Update everything," Browne-Minden said.
In the end, final items will be decided by cost.
"We're telling you what we want to do, and we'll be told what we can afford to do," said Pugh, referring to the bidding environment next year.
No noted changes will be made to the outside of the school buildings – although Pugh asked the assembled Monday night what they thought of the Bulldog insignia on the outside of the high school.
Completion
In 2021, once the bond work all is complete, if someone was blindfolded and led in to Colfax Junior- Senior High School, then allowed to look around, would they think they are in a new building?
"I think it'll look that updated," Browne-Minden said.
She noted that the existing green terrazo floors will stay.
"It's our goal to take what is great about Colfax High School and make it function better for students of today," she said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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