HHS hosts open house Saturday

Jon Sternberg photo

High school Principal Karen Crank sits in the model classroom showing what the new classrooms would look like after the renovation project at the high school.

Harrisburg High School is hosting an open house to display to the public the form the new classrooms would take under school renovation 10 a.m. Saturday.

Depending on the successful passage of the April 7 $15 million bond issue referendum, the district plans to embark on a major reconstruction and renovation project of the school. High School Principal Karen Crank walked The Daily Register through the refurbished model classroom on Thursday morning.

"All the new classrooms will have LED rather than fluorescent lighting," Crank said. "The windows will be insulated windows and all the classrooms will be equipped with the multi-function White Board instead of a blackboard."

Crank said the number of classrooms would remain the same and the replacement Bonnell Gymnasium would be constructed first to provide temporary classroom space for the students to be displaced from C Building during the reconstruction. The building to be replaced is in the middle of the school structure and the district was very cautious about the feasibility of this part of the project, as the high school building is some 120 years old.

"We had two different engineers come in to make sure the building could take the changes we wanted," Crank said. "They both told us that the building was very sound structurally and could withstand the construction associated with the renovation we planned."

Crank said teachers would choose the style of the student desks for their room, some being two-student desks. Crank said the school hoped to be able to equip each desk with a computer that would be connected to the school computer system, allowing students to print and send material to their instructors from their desks.

"We are looking at the availability of federal, state or corporate grants to allow us to do this," Crank said.

The floor of the model classroom is the refurbished wooden floor from the original building and Crank said that the school plans to refurbish and reinstall the original wood floors wherever possible. The new LED lights will allow the district to save on space and electrical cost, using one circuit breaker as opposed to separate breakers for each room. The new LED light are also much more energy efficient the old florescent lights.

Crank spoke about the district's decision to renovate rather than build a new high school.

"I think almost everybody in town would like to see a whole new structure, but it is really a money thing," Crank stated.

Crank explained that the district had thoroughly explored the new building option and that it would cost in the area of $40 to $50 million to complete such a project. The renovation will cost about $22 million and the district hopes for construction to begin in the fall of 2015, with a two- to three-year completion time. Crank said that she could see that people might think $22 million was a lot of money for the project, but in terms of school construction, this was not an excessive expenditure of funds.

"We are aware that this is a difficult time for people economically, but we truly need this project and we cannot afford a new high school building," Crank stated. "I hope that people will see that we have tried our best to preserve what we could of the historical value of the building, and at the same time put into each classroom the newer technology that the students need to give them the kind of education that will allow them to successfully compete for jobs in the world of today and the future."