FORKS — When high school students in Forks headed back to school this week, they returned to classrooms built in the early 2000s and a portion of the older building built in 1963.
It has taken some shuffling around over the course of the last several years, with classes held in every available space, but sufficient space — albeit some of it temporary — is available until the construction of the new portions of the high school are finished to replace the older, crumbling portions that were torn down this summer, said Kasey Wyatt, project manager for the Quillayute Valley School District.
The new building is planned to be finished in just more than a year — which means it should be nearing completion in October 2011, Wyatt said.
The 1925 portion of the building was “decommissioned” about two years ago, so a couple of classrooms and the school office were moved into the building annex temporarily until the new structure is in place.
The 1963 building, which houses six classrooms and the school library, eventually will be demolished once the new portions of the high school are built to replace the older portions of the school, Wyatt said.
The 1963 building was an extension of the 1925 portion of the building, which was torn down in June and July.
“For now, those older portions are serving as interim housing for the classrooms,” Wyatt said.
“The 1963 building will be demolished as the new addition is completed, and a parking lot will be there.”
The 2000 portions of the building will remain in use.
Of the 1925 portion, only the facade of the entrance remains.
That facade could remain part of the campus, if keeping it is affordable.
Preserving it as a standalone display in memory of the old school is an alternative that contractors will bid upon when they provide estimates of the costs of building a new building.
Presenting that alternative in the bidding process was a campaign issue before voters in the school district approved an $11 million construction bond issue in February.
Superintendent Diana Reaume told voters that the board would evaluate the cost and decide whether or not the standlone facade could be preserved.
District officials also received about $7 million in state funding.
The school district is accepting bids now for the construction of the new high school.
Bids are expected to come in at about $12 million for the 39,500-square-foot building.
Contractors wishing to bid on the project should attend a mandatory pre-bid meeting at 1 p.m. Sept. 9 in the District Board Room, 390 S. Forks Ave., said Bob Lindstrom, project architect with BLRB, who designed the new building.
Bids are due by Sept. 28.
The new building will feature six new classrooms outfitted with the latest technology, two resource rooms, one multi-purpose rooms, a special-needs classroom, a band and choir room, technology lab, a health room and a library, according to BLRB’s plans.
The building will feature the traditional red brick, as the old building did, but with an updated, modern design.
Every classroom in the new portion of the building will have natural light, a special request from the teachers at the high school, John Wegener, project manager for BLRB.
An outdoor student commons will feature a concrete design, which mimics the geographic look of the Quillayute, Bogachiel and Sol Duc rivers.
The design, along with other designs on the building, will funnel water to an underground tank to store gray water — or rain water — which will be used to flush the toilets.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
