[T]he Burlington school district is inviting the public to take a look at its facilities starting next week as it pitches a major renovation to the high school.
School officials say the overhaul, which they estimate will cost between $60 million and $70 million, is badly needed to improve accessibility on the sprawling campus and address deferred maintenance in buildings that date back to the 1960s.
“All of the systems that operate the building, they have all way outlived their life expectancy,” said district property services director Marty Spaulding.
The school board is expected to vote on a bond amount to put before voters at its next meeting on Aug. 14. The City Council will also have to give its go-ahead to put the initiative on the ballot, later that month. If both bodies approve the measure, the public will have the final say during a bond vote in November.
Under the proposed plan, Buildings C and D, which house the school’s math and history wings, would be demolished. Building E, which houses science, might be demolished or repurposed. Buildings A and B – the high school’s main buildings — would be consolidated and enlarged.
The Burlington Technical Center, which is also on the campus, will also see major infrastructure upgrades under the plan, but won’t be entirely redesigned, Spaulding said.
Right now, the campus’s five buildings are connected by unheated, plexiglass walkways. The spread-out nature of the campus makes it difficult for people to get around, school officials say, and is particularly problematic for students with disabilities.
“Even for students who don’t have mobility issues, who have a bit of a time crunch, it’s almost impossible to get from one building to the other,” said school board member Martine Gulick, who sat on the committee that recommended the district’s plan.
In addition to accessibility issues, school officials say the buildings’ infrastructure is crumbling, highly inefficient, and that its STEM and tech equipment is badly outdated.
The proposal for a new high school is mostly conceptual at this point. But Spaulding said the public can expect more detailed plans before they cast their ballots.
“Typically you don’t go to full schematic designs before a bond,” he said. “But as we we’re getting closer to the bond, we’ll have something a little bit more detailed than what we’ve shared so far.”
District official hope to build a school in line with guidelines established by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, he added.
The school district’s tours of the high school start this upcoming Tuesday, at 6 p.m. Another tour will be held Aug. 8, also at 6 p.m., and on Aug. 18, at 9 a.m. Each event is expected to last about 90 minutes. School officials are encouraging people to RSVP online.
