Sections of Butler high to open intermittently
BUTLER TWP — Brian White regularly starts his workdays walking through Butler Area Senior High School to check on the progress of its construction.
When the school semester starts at the building Tuesday, Sept. 6, it will hold a 2,000 students because, for the first time, ninth grade will be housed in the facilities.
White, superintendent of Butler Area School District, said the entire project should be completed around January, but some pieces integral to the ninth-grade migration, like a large group instruction classroom and an auxiliary gymnasium, will be ready by Sept. 6.
“They are expediting the LGI room for the first day of school,” White said. “There are temporary wall fillings in the cafeteria so it will have three classrooms at the beginning of the year.”
The construction will add about 40,000 square feet to the building, including a 19,000-square-foot wing with a new auditorium; 10 new classrooms, including a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) space; woodshops; 3D printers; and additional technology.
The other portion of the project is the addition of an auxiliary gymnasium, which White said should also be completed by the first day of school, except for the installation of hardwood floors, which will be done at a later date.
The initial cost for the projects, including the new wing and auxiliary gym, was around $15 million, but several change orders approved by the school board have increased that original price tag.
Construction supplies began arriving at the school in January, and work began on the auxiliary gym later that month. White said supply chain issues slowed some of the construction procedures, so the school board and district administrators planned alternative methods to hold the ninth students.
White said the classrooms in the new wing are going to “come online” as they are completed, and construction is working outward on the new classrooms from the main school building to connect the gymnasium. White also said the connection to the gym is a benefit for the school.
“For me, one of the best things about it is we are closing the campus, just from a safety perspective,” White said. “It’s a lot of instructional space added; there will be a lot of cool STEM and science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) space.”
The school district hired separate general contractors so they could work on the two projects concurrently; Nello Construction Company for the wing addition and Hudson Construction for the auxiliary gym. They both started work around the same time as well.
Included in the high school addition is the renovation of locker rooms in the main gymnasium.
The auxiliary gym, which will be attached to the main gym, will hold about 500 spectators, and will come equipped with two locker rooms and four team rooms for use by the district’s competitive sports teams and visitors. There also will be new offices for coaches and the gym comes equipped with the structure for batting cages.
On the first day of school, students will still enter through the bus doors and head to their classrooms. They will be there as 30 concrete trucks pour tons and tons of cement into the new wing for completion. Students will migrate into the new classrooms as they are ready.
White said that although the construction hit some unexpected bumps along the way, it will lead to a positive change for the district.
“The new space will help with classes to introduce the kids to trades before they decide to go to the vocational-technical school,” White said. “I think it’s a big upgrade for everyone in the district.”
This story was updated at 11 a.m. Aug. 30, 2022 to remove “record” from the sentence that now reads: “When the school semester starts at the building Tuesday, Sept. 6, it will hold a 2,000 students because, for the first time, ninth grade will be housed in the facilities.” A previous version of this story said “record 2,000 students.
