FORKS — The sounds of drills and sanders mixed with those of lockers slamming and classroom lectures will be heard at Forks High School when students return after severe weather prompted cancellation of school.
Students have been attending classes in the new building while construction continues around them, a situation that is expected to continue for about another month, said Superintendent Diana Reaume.
Most of the work should be complete in time for a Feb. 15 ceremonial opening and tours of the new school facility, Reaume said.
The ribbon-cutting and grand opening will take place at 2:30 p.m., with a public open house from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
The grand opening will be almost exactly three years after voters approved an $11 million school bond to replace aging school buildings Feb. 3, 2009.
Classes under one roof
For the first time, all of the high school’s classes are under one roof.
Rod Fleck, a parent of a student at Forks High School, said last week that his daughter has a simple appreciation of the new building.
“She said, ‘Dad, I don’t think you know how nice it is not to be wet and cold,’” Fleck said.
Fleck said his daughter was referring to crossing between buildings in wet weather, when students are often caught in the rain.
“She glows about it,” Fleck said.
Several standard classrooms are already in use, while laboratory and technical classrooms still need work.
In one room, a large wooden frame sits on the floor, waiting to be built into an electronics and technology lab.
The room will have classes in robotics and in composites, senior project manager Kasey Wyatt said.
In the library, some bookshelves are fully stocked, but others are in disarray, with boxes of books and partially assembled shelving units scattered.
Library computer lab
The library computer lab is finished, but there are no computers yet.
A portion of the library floor is covered by a large padded mat, which covers a 10-foot-by-10-foot square of flooring from the original high school building.
“It’s being protected until it gets a coat of polyurethane on Monday,” Wyatt said.
Other parts of the old school were incorporated into the new school.
Attempts were made to save the historic school facade, a popular spot for Twilight fans to have their pictures taken in front of the entrance proclaiming “Quillayute High School.”
But the condition of the 86-year-old brick-and-mortar facade was too poor to save without expensive renovations.
Elements of facade incorporated
A community effort to raise the $287,000 needed to save the facade raised only a few thousand dollars, so several elements of the facade were incorporated into the main doors of the new building.
The front doors are framed by the original stone archway that framed the historic entrance and a replica of the 1925 cornerstone and a replica of the lintel, which reads “Forks High School.”
Immediately inside the front doors, facing the interior of the school, is the original Quillayute High School lintel and 1925 cornerstone.
Heritage Hall, immediately inside the front doors, also has materials from the old school — a set of dark old beams framing a high ceiling.
Immediately underneath is a set of award display cases, set apart with unfinished vertical lighting features set into the wall.
In the front office, salvaged wood also frames the reception desk. It was resurfaced and worked into trim for counter spaces.
The school also features a large courtyard, completely walled in by school buildings, with curving walkways and benches and tables for students to lounge on outdoors during good weather.
One of the final tasks for construction will be to complete the landscaping around the school, which is scheduled this spring, Wyatt said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
