The Duncan Banner

Education

January 17, 2013

Construction at Duncan High School set to begin May 1

Derrick Miller The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — Over the course of more than 1 1/2 years, Duncan High School will undergo a transformation.

A $19.03 million bond issue, which was approved by a vote of Duncan residents Feb. 14, 2012, is moving closer to construction at the high school. Construction is slated to begin May 1.

Assistant Superintendent Rodney Calhoun said the process has taken a while to get to the point of construction. During that time, the district has been working with its bonding adviser, McDonald and Associates; its architect, PBK Architect; and its construction company, CMS Willowbrook Construction.

“The process does take a while,” Calhoun said.

In that time, PBK has worked to develop an artist rendering of what the high school may look like when it’s completed, including drawings of the front of the building, the library, a hallway and the campus layout.

And the high school faculty and district’s administration has had say in how the high school campus will look. During the summer, PBK met with faculty and administration to get an idea of what they feel is necessary for the high school and how they’d like to see it develop.

One of the biggest items was increasing security by connecting all of the existing buildings. To achieve this, hallways will be built. There are also plans of doing away with the current cafeteria to create a cafeteria Superintendent Sherry Labyer and PBK’s Ron Baily have described as the “hub” of the campus.

While he’s been the the process before with another school district, this is the largest bond issue project Calhoun has been involved in. Because of the size of the project, the planning and construction portions of the project are expected to take longer than many other bonding projects.

Six phases of the project are planned to keep the bond project moving through the end of 2014.

While construction won’t begin until May, Phase One will focus on the renovation of the Art Building. Phase One is expected to last until Aug. 1.

Phase Two will begin construction on the new library, new cafeteria and kitchen, administrative offices, and renovation to the Main Building on the first floor of the south wing. This construction is expected to begin May 29 and offically wrap Dec. 30, 2014.

For Phase Three, the renovation of the first floor of the south wing will be completed and work on the second floor of the south wing will being renovation. This portion of the project is planned to begin Sept. 15 and last through Dec. 15.

In Phase Four, the bond project will tackle the renovation to the second floor of the north wing. This portion of the construction project may begin around Dec. 16 and last to March 16, 2014.

Phase Five will focus on the first floor of the north wing. This is expected to being March 17, 2014, and end June 17, 2014. This will be the last phase when it comes to the Main Building.

The final phase of the project will focus on the West Building.This portion of the project is expected to begin May 15, 2014, and end Aug. 15, 2014.

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