JDHS renovation making progress
First phase of $20 million project scheduled to be finished by late March
After spring break in March, Juneau-Douglas High School students will return to a partially transformed school. The largest phase of the school renovation will be complete, some classes will be moved into new rooms and the revamped commons area will be operational and full of light.
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"It is just going to give a heart to the school I think we've never had," said JDHS Principal Deb Morse as she surveyed the renovation progress, perched on a board in the unfinished frame of the large atrium window during a Wednesday tour.
The high school was built in the 1950s and has not been remodeled since the early 1980s. The $20 million school renovation project began last summer and is scheduled to be complete by late 2003.
The first phase, which is the most intrusive, should be complete by late March, according to Gary Gillette, project engineer for the city. When the renovation is completely finished, the school will have a new commons, new lockers, a better heating and cooling control system, new windows and larger science classrooms, among other changes. Also, almost every surface inside and out, from carpet to walls to ceiling tiles, will be repainted, refinished or replaced. Gillette said the project is on schedule, thanks in part to mild weather.
"When we got the weather, the idea is to get as much enclosed as possible," Gillette said. "(The workers) have been doing as much roofing as they can."
For the past month, workers have been using a crane to install 40-foot curved trusses that are part of the roof of the atrium adjacent to the old commons area. When the project phase is complete, a visitor will walk in the front door and arrive in an almost cathedral-like atrium, with a two-story glass window facing Gastineau Channel.
Inside the front doors and to the left will be the administration area and the entrance to the library. A massive staircase will lead to a second story where the counseling area will be, stacked on top of the administration area. Counselors and administrators will be able to look down into the atrium from glass windows.
"We are improving the circulation of the school; everything will be centralized," Gillette said.
Administrators also will be able to look through the commons into a lunch area. The new cafeteria, where the old commons used to be, will have a full kitchen and three lunch counters. Administrators are examining how the new space might be used to restructure the school lunch program, Morse said.
The renovation process has not been free of complications. Occasional problems with noise have disrupted classes and a thin layer of construction dust has blanketed some classrooms in the occupied portion of the school. One teacher who was especially sensitive to the dust had to move her classroom, Morse said.
Also, parents have been concerned that some of the dust was actually fine asbestos particles from asbestos removal operations. Gillette said most of the asbestos removal was completed before the start of school. During the abatement procedure, the area was sealed to create a negative pressure, and great care was taken to completely and cleanly remove asbestos, which can cause cancer if inhaled, Gillette said.
"There has never been any point when the teachers or students have been exposed to asbestos," he said.
Julia O'Malley can be reached at jomalley@juneauempire.com.