MILTON — The Milton High School Design Team is proposing a plan totaling about $77 million to build a new high school and realign other district schools.
The public is invited to comment Thursday, June 12, at a listening session about the plan, which includes:
-- $67.9 million to build a new high school.
-- $7.3 million to renovate the existing high school and remodel it into a middle school, housing grades 6 through 8.
-- $2 million to upgrade and replace mechanical systems in the existing high school.
“When we first started (the design process), we thought the cost would be around $80 million,” design team member Kristine Moeser said.
Craig Uhlenbrauck of Miron Construction previously estimated the cost of a new high school built in a plot adjacent to the existing high school to be about $67.2 million. But changes to make the building more user friendly, such as moving entrances near the proposed gymnasiums and pool, bumped the cost to $67.9 million.
Scott Kramer of Plunkett Raysich Architects also presented plans to remodel the high school into a middle school and district administrative offices.
Kramer said remodeling needed to convert the school includes:
-- Combining existing classrooms on both levels of the building to create classrooms big enough to meet the middle school curriculum.
-- Converting the swimming pool into a gymnasium by filling the pool with sand and laying a gymnasium floor.
-- Remodeling the “Green Gym” into two levels. On the upper level would be district administrative offices. The lower level would house the Milton, Edgerton, Clinton Alternative School.
-- Minor renovations to make existing offices more aesthetically pleasing and modern.
Remodeling the middle school would cost about $7.3 million.
The remaining $2 million in the $77 million total would include upgrading mechanical systems in the existing high school to meet new standards and needs. Kramer said the work would need to be done in the next five years even if a new school is not built.
“(The current high school) needs a lot of attention and it has for a while,” Moeser said.
The building, for example, has three separate fire alarm systems.
If voters approve building a new high school, the existing middle school would most likely be converted into a second intermediate school, said design team Chairman Bill Wilson.
The team is weighing four options of how to distribute students in the district, but Wilson said the team is leaning toward putting grades 9 through 12 in a new high school, grades 6 through 8 in the existing high school, grades 3 through 5 in the two intermediate schools and kindergarten through second grade in the elementary schools.
“These projects aren’t easy to do in terms of dollars,” Wilson said, “but they’re very sensible to do reusing what facilities we have.”
IF YOU GO
What: Milton High School Design Team public hearing.
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, June 12.
Where: Milton High School Auditorium.
To speak: Call design team chairman Bill Wilson at (608) 868-9180 to reserve a speaking time.