School community digs new digs

SUNSHINE — New plans for the Su Valley Jr./Sr. High replacement campus are being met with good reviews as the school community works out concerns about classroom sizes with project architects.

The school’s teachers, students, parents and staff are sharing opinions with Anchorage-based architects Michael Carlson, John Weir and others working on blueprints for the new school.

“We had a lively debate and at the end of the day everybody was really happy,” Weir said.

The more than 50,000-square-foot single-story building’s design is near the top of many Upper Valley residents’ priority lists because the old school — which burned down in June — was run-down and considered obsolete by students, parents and staff, residents have said. The new school should open in fall 2009 with the class of 2010 the first to graduate from the new complex. This past week was the last to make meaningful changes in the design.

The Matanuska-Susitna School District Board of Education will review the plans Dec. 5 before they go to the Borough Assembly the following week.

Those plans include a central library area and a rock-climbing wall built into the common area for gym use.

One happy design customer is Bev Maynard, an aide with a daughter who attends school there. Maynard does everything from working in the makeshift library to keeping an eye on kids during breaks. She was on the design committee and had a lot of input into the new school library’s design.

“I love the new library. It’s fabulous,” Maynard said, adding the library features “exciting and interactive” design features while still having a comfortable area for students to read, gather and visit.

Maynard advocated for clear sightlines that allow for openness and also help those running the library to supervise the room at all times.

“It will beat the heck out of my little, cramped portable,” she said, referring to the temporary classroom and campus Su Valley students are using at the area’s senior center campus.

Building Design Committee member Jenny Krepel said she has been involved in the design meetings “from day one, and I think we’ve got a workable design.”

A local arts advocate had concerns about the amount of classroom space devoted to the creative arts.

“There is one classroom labeled ‘Science/Art/Project Lab’ that will accommodate up to 21 students with 1,150 square feet,” artist and photographer Julia March Crocetto said. “Is this enough space for drawing, painting, 3-D and other academic basics? Is this enough space for students to create and be able to store their projects and supplies? Isn't the creative process essential to more than 30 percent of jobs in the workforce? Should space for creativity be valued as well?”

Weir said the art room issue cropped up in focus groups and was resolved by the time the larger meetings happened.

“We made some modifications to that particular room so both art and science could be accommodated,” said Weir, who is a principal partner in the design firm, Anchorage-based McCool Carlson Green.

Weir said he was particularly happy that some residents who initially had concerns later told him their concerns were taken care of. In the end, it was agreed there were enough classrooms, but two needed to be a little larger.

“We want to make it right for everybody,” Weir said. “The community is really committed to getting it right.”

The plans and diagrams are available online at http://www.mcgalaska.com/inprocess/suvalleyjrsr/p1.htm as a PDF download.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.