Still working

East Elementary School has walls.

Classroom doors are a different story.

As Jay School Corporation prepares to begin classes Friday, renovations are ongoing at East as part of the consolidation of three Portland elementary schools into two following the closure of the Judge Haynes building.

Work won’t be complete by Friday, but classes will begin. That was always part of the plan.

Jay School Board voted late last year to close the Judge Haynes building in response to declining enrollment — the corporation has 45 percent fewer students now than it did when East opened in 1975. That decision came on the heels of the closure of the Pennville Elementary building at the end of the 2016-17 school year.

In order to accommodate the Judge Haynes students at East, which is now a kindergarten through second grade building, and General Shanks, which is now a third through fifth grade building, some changes had to be made.

Crews from Muhlenkamp Building Corporation of Coldwater, Ohio, have been working six days a week on the $2.53 million East renovation since school let out in May. Staff was not allowed in the building until 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“Really we didn’t allow people to come in the building to put things away in the classroom because we just weren’t able to,” said Jay Schools business manager Brad DeRome. “We needed every possible moment and day for the contractors to work.

“It’s pretty transformative.”



Construction

The bulk of the construction this summer has been at East, beginning as soon as classes let out in late May.

The interior of the building was essentially gutted as partial walls were removed, leaving a wide-open space. Since then, permanent floor-to-ceiling walls have been installed to create traditional classrooms in the building that was previously open-concept.

Included in the project was moving the office area to the north side of the school to create a secure entrance. The former office area will now be the library/media center.

Other upgrades have included new automatic LED lighting that turns on via motion sensors. New sprinkler heads were installed. And urinals were removed from restrooms in favor of stalls.

Most of the work at General Shanks has been outside of the building. It including expanding the main parking lot on the east side of the school and adding a new car drop-off lane on the north side.

Inside, the only significant change was to create a secure entrance. The secretary’s office and nurse’s station were moved to a former kindergarten classroom on the east side of the building and a second set of doors was installed to create a secure entrance. Most of that work was handled by school corporation staff. The principal’s office was moved to the former nurse’s station, and the former office area will now be used as intervention classrooms.



Access

Part of the construction at both schools included relocating the offices to create a single point of entry.

That process is complete at General Shanks, where the entrance will remain on the east side of the school. Visitors will need to be buzzed into the building and then visit the new office before they can enter through a second set of doors.

Plans are similar for East, though the office area is not yet complete because the construction focus has been on getting classrooms ready for the start of the school year. For now, the main entry will remain at door one at the northeast corner of the building. Eventually, visitors will enter via a new secure entrance to the new office area on the north side of the school.



Traffic

Both Portland elementary schools will now have new traffic patterns for morning and afternoon pick-up.

At East, buses will enter from Orkney Street, drop students off on the north side of the school and then exit from Jack Street. For student pick-up at the end of the school day, buses will enter from Jack Street and be parked in the lot east of the school in order to load students.

Parents dropping off students will enter on Jack Street and proceed west on a new driveway between the parking lot and playground area. They will drop off students at the gym doors on the east side of the school and then exit on Jack Street. They will follow the same pattern in the afternoon.

At General Shanks, buses will enter from Boundary Pike, drop students off on the east side of the school and exit on Floral Avenue. For afternoon pick-up, buses will be parked in the lot east of the school.

All drop-off and pick-up by parents will be via a new driveway loop off of Elder Street on the north side of the school.

Both Portland elementary schools will be using a program called SchoolPass for arrival and dismissal. It includes a smartphone app that will let parents know when their students have been been dropped off or picked up, arrived at LatchKey, etc.

Principals Julie Gregg (East) and Erica Tomano (General Shanks) emphasized the importance of patience on day one.

“We will have a lot of students to dismiss that first day,” said Tomano. “We want their kids to get home safely, so it may delay some things.”

Work on the parking lots, also handled by Muhlenkamp, came at a price tag of $1.17 million.



Kindergarten

While Friday will represent the first full day of school for most students in Jay County, Portland kindergartners will instead have an open house.

The event at East will run from 9 to 11 a.m. with parents invited to bring their students to the school, see the building and their classrooms and drop off supplies. There will also be a photo booth for first-day pictures.

The goal was both to allow kindergarten students to get a feel for the new building while also limiting some of the traffic on the first day.



What’s left?

There is still work to be done.

At General Shanks, the remaining work is cosmetic — landscaping and the installation of new outdoor lighting.

At East, the list is far longer.

Classroom doors, which will be breach-resistant for security purposes, have not yet been delivered. Some classroom windows have not yet been installed. Some walls are not painted.

And new carpet has not been installed in hallways to avoid it being damaged as construction continues.

“They were prepared that it wouldn’t look exactly like a finished product,” said Gregg of the East staff. “It’s going to be a time crunch, but people are handling it well, now that they’re in (the building).”

Crews hope to be able to continue to work in some non-classroom areas, such as the office, while classes are in session. Beyond that, work will continue after hours, on weekends and on off days such as Aug. 25, which the corporation takes off because of the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association Show.

The target completion date is Oct. 1.

Though everything won’t be done and it’s been a hectic week for staff as they prepare their new classrooms, Gregg is confident about the start of school Friday.

“We’re going to be ready,” she said.