District decides on design plan for high school
March 10, 2017
After much deliberation, the school district has decided on a preferred concept to address the needs of the high school and voted for Option D1 on March 1.
This project was developed as a way to address and resolve deficiencies as stated by the Board of Education through multiple studies and reports, including the New En- gland Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) review.
“We had close to seven concepts of different approaches to solve these issues at the high school, and we settled on one of them a few weeks ago, which basically calls for a new school, except for the renovation a er the 2003 portion of the building,” Chair of the High School Renovation Committee Bill Wadsworth said.
One big change being made from this project is the adaptation of the cluster concept for the academic classroom spaces. These clusters are designed to create a sense of community instead of long hall- ways and are designed to keep the building compact and efficient.
“I’m very happy about the plan that has been chosen; it is exciting to imagine a new building and the opportunities it will make possible for our continuous improvement in teaching and learning at Farmington High School,” Principal Bill Silva said.
According to the Building Project website, between now and the town referendum, the Building Committee will continue reaching out to the community for opinions and advice. As a way to do so, they have scheduled a series of Building Committee meetings, community briefings, school tours and presentations.
“Giving tours of the high school was a lot of fun. Most of the community members were parents of younger children in the district so they were very concerned about the plans and had a lot of questions about the building. We took them around the entire building, and they definitely understood the struggle of getting to class in four minutes after we finished,” senior Emma Sherrill said.
The changes that will be made during this project will include 14 percent existing building renovation and 86 percent new construction and the final building will be 239,546 square feet for the high school and 9,707 for the Board of Education.
In addition, it will include new classrooms and science lab learn- ing areas, a new library, cafeteria, gyms, locker rooms, fitness room, music classrooms and applied arts classrooms. The total project budget range is $125.5 million to $139.3 million.
“While I firmly believe that it is the people that make or break an institution, the facility you work in can inspire that work or setup roadblocks to it. I think more and more we have seen that as we explore what high-level and quality teaching and learning ‘might be’ or even ‘should be,’ we find that our present facility presents some significant roadblocks. Given that, my hope is that the community supports this effort and invests in Farmington’s future,” Physical Education and Wellness Department Leader and town resident Edward Manfredi said.