Officials expect to take bids for work on Oak Harbor High starting in August
Published 11:16 pm Thursday, July 10, 2008
OAK HARBOR — Students mingle and walk to class in a secure, closed-in courtyard. New sprinklers are prepared to extinguish any flames that might break out at school. Student actors perform in a new theater with quality acoustics.
That’s how school officials imagine the renovated and expanded Oak Harbor High School.
Construction on the $70 million to $72 million project is set to begin this fall. The district plans to accept bids for the construction portion in August.
A voter-approved bond is funding the bulk of the work, and the state is paying around $18 million, said Gary Goltz, the Oak Harbor School District’s program manager for construction.
The expansion will add a second floor to a portion of the high school, increasing the school’s size by 50,000 square feet, to 260,000 square feet. The plan also calls for a new roof and doors, improved landscaping and more advanced wiring.
“When we complete this, the whole campus will have a new, attractive face to it,” Goltz said. “It will be a better environment for teaching kids and something the community can be proud of.”
Oak Harbor High School was built in the late ’70s and expanded in the early ’90s.
When construction gets under way this fall, some Oak Harbor High School students will attend class at the former Clover Valley Elementary School. Now called Oak Harbor High School North, the school is being spruced up this summer to prepare it for high school classes, Goltz said.
