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Sevastopol Releases Renderings of Remodel

Ground-breaking coming in spring

If you’re not familiar with the Sevastopol School District building, it’s likely you’d get lost in its narrow hallways without a guide. You’d also notice aging floor tiles, entrances and doorways that don’t quite make sense and one oddly medieval-looking door.

Those features and more are why the community voted to support a $25.1 million referendum in 2018 to demolish some aging sections of the school – constructed in 1924 and 1946 – and attach new additions.

Renovations will include a remodeled parking lot, new main entrances for students and teachers, upgraded entrance security, new and remodeled classrooms, ADA-compliant designs, relocated district offices and new lab space.

“A good part about the plan is that there’s something for every student,” Superintendent Kyle Luedtke said. “The elementary kids get new classrooms; middle school/high school [students] get new science classrooms; everyone gets new art rooms. There’s something for every child in this plan.”

Sections of the school that will remain include the existing high school, which was renovated in 1965; the elementary gym and music wing, which was renovated in 1991; the high school library, in 1996; and 4K and 5K classrooms on the second floor, in 1998.

The project planning is 74 percent complete at this time, Luedtke said, and administrators will have 90 percent drawings by Dec. 5. The layout and designs are firm; planning is now focused on infrastructure including wiring, security systems, internet connections, and heating and cooling. The school will reuse furnishings where possible.

Groundbreaking will take place in March or April 2020, depending on the weather, with a small abatement project beginning during the holiday break, turning the 1965 science storage area into an electrical room for the future addition. The biggest impact on the student body will come during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 years, with the bulk of construction happening during the summer of 2021, when students will be out of the building.

“Basically, we’ll have two seasons around here: construction and school in session,” Luedtke said.

The district is projected to move into the new additions Sept. 1, 2021.

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Staff members have played a significant role in the design of the classrooms to make them better suited for flexible, hands-on learning. In addition to more windows and natural light, each grade level will have small-group instruction (SGI) rooms that connect two classrooms. They will have windows of their own and access from the hallway.

The SGI structure can be used for various scenarios: working in groups, making up tests while the rest of the class works, and students working with speech pathologists and other educational professionals.

There will also be a garage door between classrooms that can be opened for grade-wide collaboration. The doors will have two sets of windows: the bottom-level windows will be frosted to cut down on distraction from the other room, and the top-level windows will be clear so that teachers can communicate with each other.

The rooms will also include SMART boards and desks that can be moved easily.

The building’s current layout requires students to walk long distances to get to their classes, so the new layout will eliminate wasted time, Luedtke said. “[Students will] have more focus on what they’re actually trying to accomplish.” 

School Resource Officers collaborated on security updates, which include buzzing visitors into the school through the first set of doors from the outside, and buzzing them in again before entering the office. Security procedures for checking in guests are also being updated, Luedtke said.

New second-floor classroom hallways will have doors on both ends that can be locked in the event of an intruder, but they won’t lock when leaving the hallway in case there’s a need to exit during a fire or other emergency.

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