School repairs under way

April 8, 2007

By John R. Moses

Frontiersman

TALKEETNA - Since spring break, there's been a new sound at Su Valley Jr./Sr. High School - noisy construction. Lots of it.

Those in charge say the $6.6 million roof replacement is proceeding on time. Portable classrooms squat at the end of the main parking lot, and construction fences and tape block much of the school's frontage.

Students and staff are a little more than a month into the adventure. Students have some classes in portable buildings, the bathroom is a temporary facility and the lunchroom a cramped space with plywood for one wall.

Yet high school goes on. State testing was under way last week, breakfasts and lunches are served on time, and the prom is a recent memory.

Principal Matt Clark seems to be taking the situation in stride, and says students have pretty much adapted to the new routines.

&#8220They've got a quasi-library and a quasi-lunchroom and the gym is outside,” Clark said. Construction workers have been very cooperative, he said, especially during last week's testing. Noisy work began outside a classroom, and when workers were told about the testing they switched to another project.

That's the situation until December, when the project should wrap up and the school will have a safe and secure roof with safer rooflines when snow and ice falls. He's looking forward to the spring melt, after which some new picnic tables will join the two existing tables and students can enjoy the campus at lunchtime.

It's track season now. Fall sports coaches face a season without a gym until at least October. At least one, Chad Valentine, is already planning ways to have a volleyball season. Some activities will happen at schools in Trapper Creek, about 15 miles north of the Su Valley campus on the Parks Highway, and in Talkeetna, 14 miles down a spur road.

&#8220I suspect it will be a little bit of a hardship. I may lose a couple of players,” Valentine said.

A few years ago work was needed on the gym floor, so Valentine's previous team was in the same boat.

&#8220It was not an ideal situation, but you just have to plan ahead.”

Last time the gym closed, the flooring contractor was required to pay for buses to get the teams to and from practices. This time it will be up to players and parents to get to transport their children to the stand-ins for the high school gym.

Deb Maynard is a school employee and a parent whose daughter, Madison, is a student. She said the situation could have been a nightmare, but the kids adapted well and the construction team is very attentive to the school's needs, moving fencing and equipment to ensure safe passage.

&#8220It's affecting us all. I don't have the big library anymore, that's mostly where I work,” Maynard said.

The other issue is bathrooms. One rented portable restroom building has two stalls for females and two stalls plus two urinals for males. Fewer restroom facilities mean more leeway is now given to students.

&#8220The lack of bathrooms creates a situation where we pretty much have to let them go to the bathroom when they want to,” teacher Bruce Hamler said.

Student Body President Jacob Mannix said the transition &#8220wasn't as bad as I think we all thought it would be.”

Mannix said that - except for a lack of restroom space - he doesn't hear many complaints. Part of that, he said, could be because students knew what they were getting into before the hammering and sawing began.

&#8220We did, after all, ask to stay at Su Valley” during construction rather than be moved to another campus.

The roof replacement project started March 5, and the timeline got a boost when contractors realized school ends in late May. That was earlier than they thought, so more intense work can take place earlier during good weather.

Project Superintendent Joe Burris said Friday that asbestos abatement personnel have been on the job. He said as soon as tests come back things will move forward and siding can be removed from the building. All that's needed for that part of the work is clearance from those tests.