New Building for Current Students?

Time has taken its toll on Woodstock Union High School Middle School and plans for a new building are in the works.

“The building needs upgrades,” Principal Garon Smail said.

Energy efficiency is one of the goals set for the new facility. A proposed utility bill of a new school (which will be 25,000 square feet larger) is estimated to be around $180,000/year while the current utilities at WUHSMS amount to roughly $217,000/year.

Old and poorly designed systems make for constant, costly repairs while affecting the comfort of staff and students. One of these systems is the steam powered radiators that are scattered throughout the school. These radiators are outdated and noisy.

“They don’t function anymore,” the District Buildings and Grounds Manager Joe Rigoli said, speaking specifically about the radiators along the hallway near the high school gym. The radiators throughout the school are steam powered leading to inefficient heating.

Rigoli recently led a tour pointing out the current drawbacks of the facility before a school board meeting.

“Trying to hear each other, temperature, sounds, and comfort,” Malena Agin (World Languages teacher at KMS) said about the challenges of the current classrooms noting that an environment in which students and teachers are uncomfortable, in any aspect, is inefficient.

New systems, a more efficient design, and more comfortable rooms could lead to better and greener learning. The proposed design for a new facility could take care of the issues while a renovation may not.

“That’s the more cost effective way to go,” Superintendent Mary Beth Banios said regarding building a new school compared to renovating the current one. Renovating and adding to the current school is projected to cost as much as $77.5 million while an entirely new school would cost around $60 million.

A new building would feature specialty labs, flexible student common areas, and teacher work spaces. In addition, there will be a large focus on sustainability including energy efficiency and natural lighting. All classrooms would be flexible and be equipped and setup for present and future technologies.

“It’s possible within five years to do that,” Banios says as she prepares for the future.

Information for this article was taken from the School Facility Plan on www.wcsu.net.