Middle school remains work in progress

By Lauren Radomski (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Tuesday, December 18, 2007

In less than a month, district administrators will finalize the design of Fergus Falls Middle School, the building scheduled to house sixth through 12th graders beginning in 2009.

Throughout the fall, the school district has continued to tweak the middle school building design presented to voters prior to last May’s successful referendum.

This design includes several major components such as additional classrooms, remodeling of existing classrooms, a new gymnasium and an expanded media center and cafeteria, said school district business manager Mark Masten.

As the district prepares to finalize the design in early January and open construction bids in late February, administrators must ensure the details of each component will not exceed their budget.

“I think we’re on track to get the things we said we would get,” Masten said.

But that doesn’t mean the district will be able to afford everything it wants. In the past few months, administrators, architects and construction staff have considered a host of extras — things like a fourth section of the gymnasium and sinking the gymnasium slightly below ground to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

On Thursday, Masten and Middle School Principal Dean Monke will meet with construction managers and architects in St. Cloud to discuss how feasible these extras actually are, though Masten already acknowledges the district can’t afford everything.

“We need to start cutting back on a few things,” he said.

The district will also need to resolve the issue of a potential hockey arena on the middle school site. Back in mid-November, ATS&R, the architectural firm for the project, began a study to determine whether there would be enough “waste energy” from the arena to assist in the heating of the middle school, Masten said. This energy would be purchased by the school district.

Preliminary findings from the study are in, Masten said, but district officials need more time to go over the results before making any decisions. As for fundraising by the Fergus Falls Hockey Association, which is responsible for the cost of the rink, Masten said Monday he did not know the latest amount the group had raised.