Remaking the Valley | New Altoona school will be showcase in 2016

Monday, February 1, 2016
Blythe Wachter | Leader-Telegram

Overcrowding concerns sparked $23M upgrade plan

The opening of a new school likely will be the highlight of 2016 for the Altoona district.

Altoona Elementary School, being built just east of the city on Bartlett Avenue, is about 60 percent completed, Superintendent Connie Biedron said.

Construction began in early June, and good weather has allowed the project to proceed ahead of schedule in some areas, Biedron said.

The school will be turned over to the district the first week in July.

The 91,114-square-foot building for kindergarten through third grade will cost about $12 million. The school will replace Pedersen Elementary School. Former Superintendent Einar Pedersen will continue to be honored by the district with Pedersen Commons at Altoona Middle School.

Campus changes

The school district campus, located in the city along Bartlett Avenue, west of the new elementary school, will be remodeled as part of the district's $23 million building project, which includes the new school, to relieve overcrowding at Pedersen Elementary and Altoona Middle schools. The campus also houses Altoona Intermediate School for fourth and fifth grades.

Upgrades include new roofs, safe vestibule entries, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements at the middle school and Altoona High School.

A middle school addition will provide space for district offices and a new connection to the existing elementary school, which will be incorporated into the school complex after the new elementary school opens in fall.

Last summer a new high school commons and ​vestibule was finished. It features a fountain, high-top tables and chairs, and a large-screen TV to stream video of sporting events, concerts and other school activities for overflow crowds.

Open houses are planned after the new school year starts Sept. 7.

Start times

Responding to a parent survey voicing support and research supporting later start times for teens, the school board will flip the daily schedule beginning next school year.

Middle and high school students now begin classes at 7:45 a.m. Start times will be pushed back to about 8:20 a.m. for fourth through 12th grades. Younger children will start at about 7:45 a.m. instead of 8:20 a.m.

Officials also are discussing launching an alternative education program next year for high-schoolers "who don't fit in the constraints of the regular classroom," Biedron said.

The administration offices will be vacated after its occupants relocate to the middle school. One proposal calls for turning the building into an alternative learning center with a flexible schedule for students who have different needs, she said.

New this academic year, a school resource officer started in August. Jon Lauscher, an investigator with the Altoona Police Department, helps with student issues. 

Tech driven

"We need to change," Biedron said. "The world is different that students are going out into."

A fabrication laboratory launches next school year. The middle school lab will involve electronics and computer-based programming, and the high school lab will emphasize metalworking. In a fab lab, students design and make products using computer-controlled tools.

"There is a huge focus on project-based learning because there is a large skills gap in business and industry," said Jeff Ballentine, a technology educator at the high school. "We're trying to tie the fab lab to the skills our community needs."

Last school year the district received a $20,000 state education  grant to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics offerings for fourth- and fifth-graders. It funded a "makerspace," an initiative for students to invent and create products such as Internet games.

Now the district is applying for a $25,000 fab lab grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to buy equipment such as a laser engraver.

The district also plans to outfit older students with Chromebooks, starting with eighth-graders this month.

Contact: 715-830-5828, blythe.wachter@ecpc.com, @BlytheWachterLT on Twitter

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