Elementary School Construction Should Wrap Up Next Month

Just six months since construction crews broke ground, the cafeteria additions to Cumberland and Richards elementary schools are already near completion.

Additions to the elementary schools and high school were part of a larger two-part, $22.6 million facilities referendum approved by voters in November 2009. Construction began in July, and the district is currently under budget, having borrowed $20 million, Whitefish Bay School District Business Manager Shawn Yde said.

The identical cafeteria additions to the elementary schools are on track to be completed in the first two weeks of February, but other detailed work will need to be done before students use the spaces. 

“We will move lunch functions into those areas when it is practical to do so, then we would move other functions into the existing cafeteria,” Yde said. “It becomes a hopscotch game.”

The new cafeterias are three times the size of the existing spaces. Yde said the old spaces were so cramped the schools had to schedule four separate 20-minute lunch periods for all students to get a lunch hour.

The current cafeterias and teacher lounges at Cumberland and Richards will be transformed into classrooms or other multipurpose spaces.

“Those two buildings (Cumberland and Richards) were pretty much at capacity, so having the extra space will be great,” Yde said. “Our elementary school numbers are about as high as they’ve been in the 18 years I’ve been here. We’re in the high 700s, so this gets us to a place where we can better manage the number of students we have.”

The high school is on track to have a new music wing completed in the first two weeks of March that will give band, orchestra and choir classes with at least twice as much space as they have now, Yde said.

The former music classrooms will be remodeled into two science labs, and one of the existing science labs will be transformed into a classroom for cognitively disabled students.

Additionally, a new hallway was constructed adjacent to the high school swimming pool, providing a secure thoroughfare between the fieldhouse and the main high school building. Yde said the “secure link” makes the building more secure, as students are no longer leaving the building.

Yde said security issues emerged as a community priority during discussions about the referendum. Other security improvements, such as doors that automatically lock during school hours, have already been implemented in the high school, middle school and both elementary schools.

"We started out talking about infrastructure, but as the community was engaged, one of the things that came up was security without detracting from the looks or the feel of the building," Yde said.

The new hallway addition also makes the entire high school handicap-accessible. A wheelchair lift and elevator improvements will also add to the accessibility of the building.

Although the middle school is not seeing additional space, there is work being done in the building. A new gym floor is being installed, and the orchestra room will be relocated from the basement to the second floor to provide more space and reduce moisture damage to instruments.

At the high school and elementary schools, extensive work is being done to upgrade the plumbing and electrical infrastructure and to bring wireless Internet to the schools. Most school bathrooms will also renovated, Yde said.

In many cases, the district is replacing original infrastructure that is at least 70 years old.

“The reason the electrical needed to be improved is there is more technology being used,” he said. “The electricity required is substantially greater in today’s educational system than in the 1930s when these buildings were constructed.”

Yde said the renovations allow the buildings to serve the district for another 50 years.

"A lot of it protects the assets the community has already invested in," he said. "In some ways, some of the infrastructure work is preventive maintenance that will save the district money and allow the district to use these facilities in the years to come."