Construction plows ahead in school district

POULSBO — Schools are usually quiet in the summertime, but there have been two noisy exceptions this summer.

The renovation of the community pool and Hilder Pearson Elementary have been plowing forward all summer, and both projects are still on schedule, with the renovation of the pool still nearing a first-week-of-school deadline and the work on Pearson Elementary’s north building aiming for that same date.

The elevator tower for the pool, which is not required for the building’s re-opening, will be completed later this fall.

“There’s a lot of activity,” said Robin Shumaker, the school district’s capital project manager. “It’s going well.”

The workers on the community pool found some dry rot above the auditorium, Shumaker said, which required some new frames and wooden sheathing to be installed — work that was unanticipated.

But the project continues on schedule, she added.

In fact, the project is starting to look like the new building will look, with metal and concrete walls instead of wood, metal sheathing in dark and light tan colors instead of wood, and an elevator tower beginning to take shape at the building’s entrance.

James Robinson Company of Bremerton is heading up construction, which was designed by Hawthorne-Hagen. That is the same architectural firm on the Hilder Pearson project.

The contractor is also installing new heating, ventilation and cooling units throughout the building, placing new utilities and tile in the locker rooms, making electrical-system improvements, and installing pipes beneath the new pool.

Concrete will be poured after the pipes are finished.

There will also be another addition: more color. The entrance, Shumaker said, will be more distinctive than that of the old building.

“You’ll see a more interesting entrance,” she said of the project.

At Pearson, Granquist Construction of Port Orchard is working to finish the first phase of the project before elementary students arrive for the first day of school.

The second phase of the project will be completed next summer.

Crews are improving the school’s electrical system. They have made seismic improvements and added exterior doors to all classrooms that needed it. The walls of a new storage area have been put up, with a roof to come later and new water lines have almost been completed.

“They’ve attacked the project the way we’ve wanted,” said Shumaker.

Pearson and the pool are not the only two projects the district is concerning itself with now.

Schematic designs for improvements at Poulsbo Elementary and North Kitsap High School’s gym and H building are in the works this summer as well.

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