Colfax school referendum update: doors in commons to become windows

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  Of the projects approved by voters in the $7.2 million school referendum last November, the entryway on the east side of Colfax High School will be the most visible to the public.

During a special meeting January 23, the Colfax Board of Education reviewed project plans that have been developed so far, including the new reception area.

The first bid package for the projects is expected to be released February 14.

Bill Yingst, Colfax school superintendent, said he’d had several three or four hour meetings with the architects and construction management personnel.

“We are trying to narrow down the list and identify the pieces so we can get dollar amounts tied to them and then start prioritizing the list,” Yingst said. 

Regarding the new reception area, as it exists today, visitors to the high school attending an event in the gymnasium, such as a Christmas concert or a basketball game or high school graduation, can enter through one of a number of doors along the east side.

When the remodeling of the entrance and the reception area is completed, visitors will have one entrance into the high school, and the existing doors will have become windows.  

After the construction is completed, visitors to the school also will notice that the concession stand has been moved across the commons areas next to the existing bathrooms.

The new concession stand will be somewhat smaller at 204 square feet than the existing concession stand, but it will have sinks and running water and will be a more useable space, Yingst said.

The new concession stand also will have “proper outlets so we don’t pop circuits with roasters,” he said.

All entries and exits in the high school will be through the new vestibule. 

During the day, visitors to the high school will have to wait for reception area staff to unlock the outside doors, and then visitors will have to come into the reception area before going into the high school. 

During events, the doors will be unlocked and visitors will be able to through the double doors of the vestibule into the high school.

The existing doors that will become windows will have a seating area along the windows, and underneath the seating area there will be outlets where people can plug in their devices for charging, such as smartphones or tablet computers, Yingst said.

The existing trophy cases also will be expanded, he noted.

The reception area includes two work stations that are part of the counter area where visitors will come into the building.

Colfax Board of Education member Jodi Kiekhafer said she was concerned that the placement of the work stations would not guarantee enough privacy for whatever school personnel were working on at the time.

The high school principal’s office will be located directly north of the reception desk.

The new high school office also will include a conference room, work room, the nurse’s office, a storage area, one public access rest room and one restroom accessible through the nurse’s office.

Elementary classrooms

The new elementary classrooms that will be built on the north side of the existing elementary school and will replace the “temporary” classrooms that have been in use for 30 years will be nearly 1,500 square feet.

The new art room, which also is now located in the temporary classroom area, will be much larger than the existing art room, Yingst noted.

When asked after the meeting if he knew the square footage of the existing art room, Yingst said he did not have specific numbers but thought the existing elementary art room was around 400 square feet.

The new portion of the elementary area also will include a therapy area for therapies such as speech therapy and occupational therapy.

“The therapy area will all be in one space so (therapists) will not have to travel around the building,” Yingst said.

Another new classroom will be for early childhood education and will connect to the existing junior kindergarten classroom.

Tech ed

Another part of the construction project starting to take shape is the technology education area that includes the metal shop and the wood shop.

The tech ed area will not be expanded but the placement of machinery and work spaces will be improved, Yingst said.

For example, right now the system that collects sawdust has tubes running along the floor that create tripping hazards. When construction is done in the shop area, the sawdust collection tubes will go up and will run along the ceiling, he said. 

Another change is that the tech ed teacher’s office will be moved to the far corner of the wood shop area.

“It’s good to look at the plans. We can ask questions and make suggestions now. It is hard to change (the plans) after construction starts,” said Todd Kragness, president of the Board of Education.

“There are lots of moving parts,” Yingst said, noting that the newest part of the building is 20 years old.

The new bus maintenance shop may also have space available for an automotive repair class, Yingst said.

The automotive repair class would be basic repair and maintenance, he said. 

The overall project and design is expected to come before the Colfax Board of Education for approval in April.

After the school board has approved the project design, the final bid documents will be completed. 

Invitations to bid are expected to be issued April 4 with a deadline of April 26.

The Colfax Board of Education is expected to award the bids in early May, and construction of the new elementary classrooms also is expected to start in May.

All of the construction is expected to be completed by the end of August prior to the start of the 2017-2018 school year.