Waterford Graded officials presented with future options for middle school
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Faced with a range of issues — including cramped quarters and a perceived obsolete learning environment — Fox River Middle School could be in for an extreme makeover.
But how exactly the Waterford Graded School District gets to nipping and tucking a building that hosts students in sixth through eighth grades remains in question.
Representatives of two contracted firms the district has on retainer — Plunkett Raysich Architects and Scherrer Construction — laid out several options for Fox River’s future at a School Board work session meeting May 22.
Scott Kramer, head of Plunkett Raysich’s so-called education studio, said WGSD could renovate the existing Fox River building or start from scratch by razing the existing structure and building a new one.
During the work meeting, Kramer presented district officials with a big-picture overview on the pluses and minuses of each scenario. Cost estimates, which he emphasized are very rough, could hover anywhere from $17.3 million to $43 million.
“This is very much in progress,” Kramer said of the visioning work presented to the board. “There’s a lot more development to be done on these different schemes.”
Fox River was built in 1967, and WGSD officials have been quick to point out the educational environment has changed significantly in the past half-century.
At first blush, it appears community members might have similar sentiments.
A community survey sent last year to district residents revealed a majority of respondents throughout WGSD’s boundaries believed Fox River lacked the infrastructure to accommodate a 21st Century learning environment.
That response via the survey led to the deep dive into future possibilities at the middle school.
As part of the visioning process, Kramer in his pitch to the board said some of the changes proposed are with current and future learning trends in mind.
Technical education classrooms, for example, are etched out as collaborative learning spaces with less of a shop feel and much more of a bent toward science, technology, engineering and math curriculum.
“We’re starting to talk about the spaces differently than we had in the past,” Kramer said.
While district officials have asserted it poses challenges in today’s learning environment, Kramer said the existing Fox River building could potentially hold value.
“The building is sound,” he said. “It’s just outdated.”
Remodeling portions of the existing structure is an option that was explored at length at the recent work meeting because of its overall good condition.
Although more cost effective than building anew, Kramer said it would pose challenges and hinder a truly 21st Century learning design. Two additional wings could be added onto the existing facility to alleviate space constraints.
Alternatively, Kramer said the existing Fox River building could either be repurposed for a different use — a community center was one possibility tossed out — and exist alongside a new structure.
But keeping the building and adding another would cramp the existing school campus, which also includes Evergreen Elementary School. For this reason, razing the existing Fox River structure was another prospect explored.
Although no formal action was taken at the meeting, the School Board agreed to keep all options on the table at this point.
School Board President Dawn Bleimehl said traffic patterns are an issue she would prefer be taken into consideration as details are further fleshed out.
“Traffic is already very tight,” Bleimehl said. “It’s very challenging already.”
As a next step in the planning process, WGSD plans to begin outreach efforts this summer to get a stronger pulse of the community.
Board member Jordan Karweik said he believes the steps the Burlington School District took should be used as a blueprint for WGSD.
“For me, I like the way Burlington did it,” Karweik said of the district’s recent facilities planning process. “They got the community very involved.”
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