The Columbia Falls School District board refined its vision for a remodel of the high school after an in-depth planning meeting with staff from Jackola Engineering and Architecture last week.

By the end of the two-hour long session, the main idea was to completely remodel the center of the existing high school, with new classroom and learning spaces in what is now the courtyard, making it a two-story structure. 

In addition, the gym would likely be expanded to the west with reconfigured locker rooms and more space for seating. The gym floor would also be replaced.

The gym needs to increase its capacity by about 950 seats in order to host larger tournaments, like divisional basketball. It also needs a new floor, much better insulation and a functioning elevator. 

Outside of the school, preliminary plans call for a bus and service road that would link the high school with Talbott Road, likely in a one-way configuration. That would make for better traffic flow and improve safety. In addition, a second road would tie the student parking lot on the east side of the building into Fifth Avenue.

The classroom wing would see a light touch, as it has already seen nearly $5 million in remodeling since it flooded last year during roof reconstruction. Still, it needs new exterior walls, as the old ones, which date back to 1959 when the school was first built, are out of date and porous in cold weather.

The center of the school would see the most work. 

“What would it look like to recreate it all?” Valerie Harris, an architect with Jackola asked the board.

There was some talk that the Little Theater might not fit the plan, but after looking at its existing roofline, it would align with a second-story reconfiguration. The  idea is to not only move the art classes into main building (they’re currently in an annex), but to create lab rooms and other classrooms for career and technical education, like robotics and perhaps a mechanical shop.

The hall layouts would also change a bit, so the school has no dead ends and it’s easier to get around.

While a firm budget hasn’t been set, the board agreed that for design purposes the district needed to use its full bonding capacity of $76 million, noting that it could come in less.

Architect Shane Jackola noted that just doing health and safety upgrades at the school, like sprinkler systems and heating and cooling, would cost about $100 a square foot and the school has 150,000 square feet.

Collectively, the board wanted to look toward the future.

Trustee Justin Cheff probably summed it up best when board members talked about a vision for the structure.

“A school where my grandkids will want to go to school,” he said.

In the coming weeks school staff and board members will drill down into more specifics of the plan and a final budget.

The hope is to have a levy request for voters that coincides with the November election.