High School Project Update

I realized I have spent a lot of time typing around the topic of the High School Project and haven't given many details. The reason for this is that there is still nothing concrete to say. However, there was an administrative briefing tonight where we received an update from the architects about where they are in the project and what possible solutions may be proposed for the Board meetings coming up in July and August.

There are a couple of bits of information I will share and I urge readers to keep in mind that nothing has been decided yet. There will be many opportunities for people to voice their opinions throughout this process via email, in person, or on the phone. The High School Project Subcommittee has set up the following link to make it easy for your voice to be heard by the entire Board:

http://forms.mtlsd.org/DisplayForm.asp?FORMID=1187

The presentation tonight will be repeated tomorrow night for the Design Advisory Committee. There should be a revised presentation of what was seen tonight at a discussion meeting in the near future.

We were presented with a number of possible scenarios with regards to the project. The options by no means are final, they were presented as conceptual ideas. There will be much discussion about what the final form of the scenarios will take to come. For now, it is important to note that the options that were described were in line with what the Dejong study had said months ago. There will be options to renovate, building partly new, and build completely new. What was presented last night was variations on the above themes. There were no costs given with any of the above mentioned possibilities.

Keep in mind that you will have the opportunity to address the Board at any upcoming meeting. Here are the scheduled meetings coming up:

• June 24- Design Advisory Committee input on preliminary Alternative Approaches
• July 21- Board Review of revised Alternatives
• July 22- Community presentation of Alternatives
• August 18- Community comment at pre-Board meeting
• August 27- Design Advisory Committee meeting for community input
• Sept 8- Board discussion on a recommended alternative
• Sept 15- Board approval of recommended alternative

So there you have it. That's what I know at this point. There will be tours of the High School that take place later this summer and there will be more opportunities for community input than just the meetings mentioned above. As those dates get solidified, I will be sure to update them here.

Real quick update, I went over to Josephine Posti's blog and found this link with a slideshow of pictures at the high school. Make of it what you will.

James