Middle school project on ambitious schedule
GEOFFREY M. HICKS Superintendent Sweet Home Schools
The Sweet Home community approved a $23.95 million bond issue in 2005, primarily for the

purpose of renovating Sweet Home Middle School. Plans for the project were finalized last spring, and construction began in May. The project has a very ambitious 18-month completion schedule. I am proud to report that almost six months into the project, everything is on time and on budget. We were able to award all of the construction bids at or below our original estimates, a major accomplishment given the impact of Hurricane Katrina on construction costs.

There was a large amount of work completed over the summer. All of the classrooms on the second floor of the middle school were renovated. Each room received new flooring, lighting, ceilings, white boards and tack boards. The dividing doors were replaced in those classrooms that were so equipped. New clocks were installed in the classrooms, and the public address system speakers were replaced. Throughout the course of this school year, renovation will continue on second floor bathrooms and the library, which will be expanded to almost double its existing size.

Site work in the front of the middle school was also finished over the summer. The existing parking lot was expanded and a new bus lane was added for safety purposes. The new bus lane is divided from the parking area by a concrete divider that physically separates the pickup and drop-off points.

The project specifies a number of additions to the existing building. Two of the additions were completed prior to the beginning of this school year, the new fitness center and two additional classrooms in the rear of the building that eventually will be used for health classes. Significant work was also completed on the new auditorium and suite of music classrooms. The auditorium will be one of the last parts of the project to be completed, but the new music classrooms will be finished in March 2007.

Project plans call for eight additional classrooms to be constructed in the old courtyard space of the middle school. New rooms on the east side of the building will be completed this December, and new rooms on the west side of the building will be finished in September 2007. Another new addition is a large group instruction space/cafeteria annex that will be completed in December 2006. The existing library will be moved to that space upon completion, allowing the full renovation of the second-floor library to begin.

All nine of the existing middle school science classrooms will be expanded and renovated during the course of this school year and in the summer of 2007.

I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the Sweet Home community for supporting the middle school renovation project. A year from now the project will be substantially complete, and the learning environment for our students will be greatly enhanced.