New addition for Altoona Middle and Elementary schools

Monday, March 14, 2016
Abigail Hantke | WEAU

ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU)- Folks in Altoona will see a change at the middle and elementary schools in town, as the school district builds an addition to the buildings.

The Altoona School District has been given the green light to build an addition to the current middle and elementary schools.

Altoona's Plan Commission approved the project's site plan Monday.

The remodeling of the schools was a part of the district's $23 million referendum from last year, but some aspects of the remodeling has limited everything they originally hoped they could do.

"The architect and builder said this is the most alternates they've had on a project, so I don't know if we'll be able to do all of them, but we'll do a large portion of them," Altoona Superintendent Connie Biedron said.

Biedron is excited for the change to the schools, but also cautious on how much referendum money will be put toward the project.

"There's just some pretty big ticket items," Biedron added. "The roof is over a million dollars, HVAC is over a million dollars, when you're talking about not thousands, not tens of thousands even, not hundreds of thousands, but items that cost a million dollars, it adds up pretty quickly."

The remodeling was a part of the overall plan, but Biedron said it's tightening the district's budget.

"There was some electrical additions, some air conditioning in one of the gyms, those things that we're looking at we might not be able to do this year."

As for the new addition, staff is expected to be out of the building by May 26th.

The public entrance will be the biggest difference people will see, as they remove the oldest part of the building, the Middle School.

"Removing the building, building this addition, remodeling, removing asbestos, new floors, reconfiguring some office space, some classrooms and some offices," Biedron said. "It's very extensive."

More office space, parking and new to the district, a bus drop-off site, is just a few of the changes; all to create a more positive and flexible learning environment for students and staff, ready for the 2016 school year.

Biedron adds that the construction of the new elementary school is on track to be ready for the 2016 school year, and they expect it to be handed over by the beginning of July.

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