Construction Update - May 2024

Dear Avonworth School Community,

This newsletter is dedicated to sharing an update and information about the AMS/AHS construction and renovation project.

I first want to thank our students, staff, and parents for your flexibility and patience as we lived through a school year of construction. Construction brings inconveniences and challenges, but everyone did a great job managing and adjusting through it all.

As we bring the 2023-2024 school year to a close, I can report that the construction project is progressing on schedule. Below, I will outline what has been completed and what remains to be completed in the project.

In this newsletter, I also aim to share additional information about this project. I understand it is challenging to stay updated on the details surrounding this project. Therefore, I will provide you with as much information as possible. There have been changes since the original project design was shared. I'll update you on those changes. I also want to share some of the details of the project design that you may not be aware of. Lastly, I'll renderings of what the new middle school addition to provide you with an idea of what that new amazing space will look like when completed.

I hope you find this newsletter helpful. We are excited for the changes that will take place over the summer and what our students and staff will return to at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. In January of 2025, we look forward to having our middle school students and staff move into their amazing new space and for the sixth grade students to move to the middle school on January 27, 2025.

This process, as outlined below, has been years in the making and it is very exciting to see it coming to fruition!

Have a wonderful summer! We look forward to sharing progress updates this summer and closer to the start of the 2024-2025 school year!

Thank you,

Jeffrey M. Hadley, Ed.D.

Superintendent

Last summer, we broke ground on June 5, 2023 to get this project started! To understand what has been completed and what is remaining in the project, I'll break it down into four phases below and provide a high-level overview.

Completed during the Summer of 2023:

• Demolition of the old library and surrounding classrooms
• Completion of a new library and additional classrooms

During the 2023-2024 School Year:

• Construction and completion of the new AMS/AHS main entrance and offices (main office, athletic director's office, counseling suite, and nurse's suite)
• High school classroom renovations
• Ongoing construction of the middle school addition

Summer of 2024:

• Site work on the campus (sidewalks, paving, planting trees/shrubs, etc.)
• Continued renovation of high school classrooms will be completed
• High school corridors will be completed
• Commons/cafeteria renovation begins and will be completed before school starts

• Continued construction of the middle school addition
• High school auditorium renovation begins

September to December 2024:

• Auditorium renovation continues and will be completed
• Middle school addition continues and will be completed
• Any remaining classroom renovations will be completed

There will be a lot of construction activity occurring on the secondary campus both inside and outside throughout the summer of 2024. In addition to the work occurring inside the building, all of the site work will occur this summer. This will include paving, sidewalks, and all landscaping work (planting of trees, shrubs, etc.).

With the secondary campus so close to neighborhoods, we know the campus is popular for walking, running, bike riding, etc. However, for everyone's safety, it is critical that children and community members remain off of the secondary campus throughout the summer. This will include the paths from Cobblestone.

Thank you in advance for cooperation!

The District began the process for this construction/renovation project in 2017-2018 when the Avonworth Board of School Directors asked the administration to have a demographic study completed to understand the growth the District was experiencing and projected future growth. Dr. Shelby Stewman was contracted to complete the demographic study. Dr. Stewman's detailed study is available on our website. In short, Dr. Stewman predicted the District would continue to see growth over the next decade. At the time of the study, the District's student population was 1,686. Today, our enrollment is 1,989. Dr. Stewman predicted we would reach about 2,150 students by 2028. Given the average size of kindergarten classes over the last years, Dr. Stewman's prediction appears to be accurate.

With the demographic study completed, the Avonworth Board of School Directors directed the administration to begin a search for an architect. The first task for the architectural firm, IKM, once selected was to conduct a feasibility study. To complete this study, a stakeholder group of community members, parents, administration, board members, staff, and students was assembled. The study was completed in November of 2020. Through the feasibility study process, the decision was made to renovate the current secondary building and add a two-story addition to the middle school to allow the District to bring the sixth grade back to the secondary campus. The sixth grade was in the secondary building until 2017.

Following the feasibility study, IKM began the design work for the project. In August of 2021, the Avonworth Board of School Directors hired Massaro Project Management Group to serve as the project manager for the project.

The project went out to bid in the spring of 2022, but bids were rejected by the Avonworth Board of School Directors in May of 2022 because they were cost prohibitive. With the bids rejected, the administration, Massaro, and IKM spent the summer of 2022 making adjustments to the project and also developed a bid strategy to maximize the chances of receiving favorable bids. The project went back out to bid in the winter of 2022 and bids were awarded in February of 2023. On June 5, 2023, we broke ground for the project.

As mentioned above, adjustments were made to the original design of the project to bring costs down. In the original design, a second floor loft was going to be added above the middle school commons/cafeteria. A set of learning stairs were going to extend from the commons/cafeteria up to the loft. In the loft area was going to be the library. Additionally, a hallway was going to be constructed behind the auditorium to connect the band room to the hallway where the choir room is located. Lastly, changes were going to take place in the boiler room to make the hallway possible and new boilers were going to be purchased.

The items described above were removed from the project to reduce costs. With the original plan for locating the library in the second floor loft area, space for a library had to be found within the current footprint of the high school. IKM, the District's architect, made these changes and incorporated a new library with an open and inviting concept within the existing high school footprint. With this change, adjustments were made to the new classroom configuration in the center of the high school where the old library used to be.

To learn more about the project and these changes, a video with images was created that talks through these changes. That video is located below.

I thought a Q&A might work best to share some of the unique items you may not be aware of.

Q - Will there still be a coffee shop when the project is finished?

A - Yes. However, where the old coffee shop was are new classrooms. Incorporated in the design is a concession stand that will be in the cafeteria/commons area outside of the high school gym. This space will serve as the Lopes Lounge.

Q - The boosters had a closet in the cafeteria/commons area where they stored items. Will there be a space for boosters to store items in the new design?

A - Yes. At both ends of the new concession stand in the commons/cafeteria area are storage rooms. One will be for the high school and one is dedicated to boosters.

Q - Where will boosters set up to sell items during events?

A - The boosters will be able to use the new concession stand in the commons/cafeteria area and will no longer have to set up tables to sell items during events.

Q - High school students have open mods where they can go to a location of their choice vs. study halls in assigned classrooms. What unique spaces have been incorporated into the project for this purpose?

A - During the feasibility study process, feedback was received from students indicating a desire for welcoming spaces to use during open mods. For this reason, incorporated in the project were three small study rooms in the new library, a variety of seating choices in the new library, two corners of the high school will be opened up as collaboration spaces for students (rendering pictured below), and the commons/cafeteria will be enlarged and include a variety of seating options (rendering pictured below).

Q - What are some of the changes taking place in the auditorium?

A - We are excited about the changes taking place in the auditorium.

• A new light and sound vestibule will be added in front of the current auditorium entrance to eliminate disturbances during programs.
• The new entrance to the auditorium will have a marquee above where we can advertise the programs taking place (rendering pictured below).
• All of the seats will be replaced. The seating capacity will remain the same.
• We will have the ability to remove the first couple of rows of seats allowing us to construct a stage thrust. The stage thrust will allow for the stage to be enlarged by adding the stage thrust in front of the current stage.
• Lighting and rigging will be modernized.
• A new stage curtain will be installed.

Q - In the photos below it appears the commons/cafeteria will have a new ceiling design. Can you explain?

A - Yes. The ceiling in the commons/cafeteria will remain open to a degree. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing in the ceiling will be painted black and acoustic ceiling baffles will be suspended from the ceiling.

Q - Students have commented this year that the walls in the high school are very bland. Will that change?

A - Yes. This summer the corridors will be completed in the high school. New ceiling and lights will be installed in the corridors. Also, the walls throughout the building will have a wooden panel installed (rendering pictured below). Additionally, vinyl wall covering will be used to cover some of the wall spaces throughout the building (rendering pictured below).

Q - How will Avonworth branding be incorporated into the project?

A - In the new commons/cafeteria space will be a wall designed with our Avonworth "A" created out of wooden slats (rendering pictured below). You can see in the wall covering vinyl rendering below how branding will be incorporated into the vinyl coverings. Outside the new main middle/high school entrance will be our Avonworth "A" that will light up at night (rendering pictured below).

Q - Student drop-off and pick-up have been challenging during construction. Will this change when the project is finished.

A - Yes. We appreciate your patience with the temporary drop-off and pick-up procedures during construction. Once the project is completed, a new location will be used for student drop-off and pick-up. Once the project is completed, student drop-off and pick-up will move to the other side of the building and be completely separate from where buses drop off and pick up students. The new configuration will eliminate traffic from backing up on Joseph's Lane.

Q - Why were lockers removed from the building?

A - With the number of students in the building hallways were becoming crowded and difficult to navigate. Lockers were removed to widen hallways and make them less congested.

Q - What storage options are incorporated in the project and will any additional storage spaces be provided for students?

A - Drop zones are incorporate in the project design. This concept evolved from the space students used to use to drop larger items like sports bags, golf bags, baseball/softball bags, etc. In the past, these items were placed in a small hallway outside of the athletic director's office during the school day. The new drop zone will be a large rooms that will have space for these large items and also additional spaces for smaller items and hooks for jackets. Cameras will monitor the spaces.

Based on feedback this school year, we are also investigating adding some lockers for high school and cubbies to help middle school store items.

You can view the latest construction update on our website.

Click here to view the May 22 construction update.

Click here to view previous updates.

I want to express my sincere appreciation for Avonworth students, Jase Klatzkin, Marshall McCall, and Lucy Jacobs who have been creating Avonworth Spotlight videos throughout the school year. Below is a video created by Jase highlighting the Topping Off Ceremony when the final beam was lowered into place in the middle school addition.

Updates and information concerning the project are all housed on our District website's Construction Updates pages. You can access these webpages by clicking the "ASD Construction Website" button below.