School breaks ground
<p>The Plains School Board of Trustees Polly Icenoggle, John Holland, Dede Steinebach, Lisa French, Ron Warren, Sydne Connolly, retired Superintendent Rich Magera and Superintendent Thom Chisholm use thier gold shovels to participate in a groundbreaking opportunity. Although the start date of the school addition was March 17, Western Interstate was able to begin their work on March 10 because of the nice weather. </p>
PLAINS – Plains Public Schools Board of Trustees, Superintendent Thom Chisholm and retired Superintendent Rich Magera participated in a groundbreaking photo opportunity on Monday, March 17 prior to the state monthly board meeting.
The group symbolized breaking new ground on the elementary addition project by digging into the area where the foundation will be constructed.
Although the official start date was on March 17, Western Interstate Inc., was able to take advantage of the nice weather and get an early start on Monday, March 10.
With the extra week, the safety fencing has been installed, the mobile office set-up and most of the initial excavation is completed. At the time of the ceremony, workers were setting forms for the footings and tying re-bar for the first concrete pour.
The schedule for the new addition sets August 1, 2014 as a completion date. This will allow time for the district to move classroom furniture, assign teachers and get ready for the students in the fall.
The work schedule is very accommodating to the educational environment, with the focus being on little, or no, interruptions to the students. As a result, no inside work will be done while classes are in session.
The few small amounts of interior work that must be completed before the summer break will occur on the fourth quarter Fridays when school is not in session, and/or weekends.
The outside work has proven to have no effect on the students, other than the initial novelty of having a new fence and some equipment on campus.
Magera participated in the ceremony, on his birthday, as he was instrumental in the initial phases of the project and began working on the idea after the 2009 Legislature announced the Quality School Grant Project. The QSGP is administered by the Montana Department of Quality and exists to provide assistance to schools to help with solving problems created by aging infrastructures in our state’s schools.
The Plains School District just missed an award during the first two grant cycles, however was awarded a $1,150,000 grant to create an addition to bring students together and create a unified campus.
The funding for QSGP comes from revenues generated from timber sales on state owned lands and similar rental income from power site leases. The Plains School District grant was one of the thirty-three awarded during this legislative cycle and was the second largest in the program’s history.
It is very exciting for the Board of Trustees and administration to assist with the building project. The ability to continue the tradition of quality education at Plains School will be greatly enhanced having all students on the same campus, with ready access to all programs and student services.
The new addition will eliminate the problems of a split campus and allow more opportunities for enhanced student achievement; student achievement being the most important quality of Plains Public Schools.