Gibraltar Board Field Trip Provides Ideas for Addition

To gather ideas for the replacement of the middle school gymnasium and central portion of the Gibraltar School campus, a couple of Gibraltar Area School Board members traveled in January to tour recently-built schools in Sheboygan Falls, Port Washington, Cedarburg and Wauwatosa. 

Their main goal was choosing ceiling and wall finishes and flooring for the voter-approved school project, but they drew a few more conclusions to convey to architects. 

For example, board president Jessica Sauter said she liked the school buildings that provided a great deal of natural light. Sauter also gathered information at the state education conference about energy credits and grants for efficiency.

Superintendent Brett Stousland said CG Schmidt should have drawings ready in March. He said some classes will be displaced to other parts of the school for a year during construction, and some art classes will be displaced for two years. However, he said he has found existing spaces for those classes and does not believe the district will need to put classes in trailers.

Voters approved the $29.8 million project in a referendum last spring, taking advantage of lower interest rates on debt and then collecting interest during planning phases.