Butler school board considers additions
Butler Area School Board members viewed two concepts for potential additions to the high school during a meeting Monday night.
IKM architects presented renderings of two additions, one adding classrooms and another adding an auxiliary gym.
“We're currently in the phase where we're trying to fine-tune what we need so we can get cost estimates,” Butler Superintendent Brian White said Tuesday.
White said the basic need for the additions stems from the district's plans for future reorganization.
The Butler Middle School has been estimated to need $20 million of capital improvements. The board plans to close it.
This would shift the grade levels through its existing schools, with grades kindergarten through fifth at the elementary schools, sixth through eighth at the Butler Intermediate School and grades nine through 12 the high school.
“Unfortunately there's not enough space at the senior high school to handle four grades,” White said.
White said the new additions would offset lost classroom and gym space, and the goal would be to do so without coming close to the $20 million it would take to update the middle school.
“We want this to make sense economically for us, so we avoid expenditures moving forward,” White said.
He said it could also be a good one-time investment of funds received through COVID-19 aid. He said these ideas would not only make the district more efficient, but it would also add more security to the high school.
Currently students walk outside when going from the cafeteria to the gym, but the classroom addition would create a physical connection between those two areas. This officially would make the high school a closed campus.
“From a safety and security perspective, we're pretty happy about that because it's something we've wanted,” White said.
According to White, these are the early stages of planning, so the board did not make any decisions at Monday's meeting regarding the ideas they saw.
He said there is another presentation scheduled in March for more details and analysis about the project.
“We'll whittle away wants from needs,” White said.
