Proposed new high
school revealed
By DANA
DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Though
ground has not yet been broken for a new Wood River High School, school
district officials hope to have the building pad adjacent to the existing
school in place before snowfall.
Design
approval and a proposed planned unit development, to permit excess
building height and fewer parking spaces, and are still under review by
the city of Hailey. However, at the school board’s monthly budget
meeting on July 10, architect Nate Turner, of Lombard, Conrad in Boise,
displayed a color rendition of the proposed 180,000-square-foot structure.
Architect’s
rendition of new Wood River High School. Image
courtesy Hummel Architects P.A.
At the
urging of the school district, the architects have tried to integrate the
look of several Hailey buildings in their design concept of the school to
give it a more indigenous feel. Among the buildings used as examples of
the downtown Hailey style are the Willis Building, the Hailey Town Hall,
Windemere Realty and The Mint.
The
surfaces in the new plans call for split-faced concrete block and brick
veneer. Exterior colors range from red brick, sandstone concrete, glass
and green trim. The upper levels of the building will be in the lighter
shade, Turner said, and "should blend in with the hills."
Turner said
that because of the existing school and the mountains, this was the most
difficult site the architects had worked with when designing a new school.
However, the board was pleased with the new look.
"What
the architects have come back with, I think this community will be proud
of for a long, long time," Lewis said.
Other items
discussed at this meeting were:
-
Approval
of five new teacher contracts and the employment of a new director of
buildings and grounds, Jim Bennion.
-
Assistant
Superintendent Mary Gervase related that the Idaho State Board of
Education has waived the requirements for students in grades 3-11 to
participate in the Iowa Test of Basic Skills testing and TAP testing.
Lewis said he had some concerns about dropping the testing altogether.
"Idaho tends to go to extremes, like a pendulum," he said.
He asked that the board take more time to study the issue of levels
testing. Lewis called the tests a good way to ascertain students’
growth compared to national levels. He added that if the district does
continue the testing, it would move it to the spring rather than fall.