Since the beginning of the school year, administration has been taking up residence in Building 1, the red building. However, starting Tuesday Jan. 3, they will reclaim the newly renovated administration building as their home.
Big changes have taken place in the building. It now includes a single centralized entry point (pictured above), beginning in the staff parking lot. Starting in January, this will be the only way for visitors to get on campus during school hours and requires that visitors be properly checked in. “Now visitors have to be buzzed in from one of three doors to get onto campus,” eighth- and ninth-grade Assistant Principal Brian Dorn said. Ballistic mesh will be installed at this entry as per Sarasota County School District regulations.
Photo by CATE ALVARO
Moreover, the interior has been redesigned, with walls in the front office taken down in favor of a more open area for use. “We hired an outside architectural firm to come up with the redesign, with input from the School Board and PVA,” Dorn said. This new model not only provides office secretaries with more space, but makes the area more spacious. More energy efficient LED lighting has replaced old lighting systems and utilizes motion sensors to conserve energy when people are not present.
A majority of the rooms will remain the same, with changes to some. There will be one less conference room in the new building, which can be split with a divider to make two rooms if needed.
Photo by CATE ALVARO
The health room has improvements as well, with an ice maker added, along with an additional bathroom with a shower, two more cots for a total of five, a washer and dryer system, and four privacy curtains.
When administration moves back to the office building Tuesday Jan. 3, third grade classes will return to the red building. With Building 3, the blue building, vacated, foreign language classes will leave the portables near Building 16 and reclaim Building 3. Building 2, the green building, will be the next facility to undergo construction, leaving its teachers to relocate to the portables near Building 16.
Regarding the move, tenth-grader Katelyn Carico said, “I’m happy that the office is moving back to the old building because I think it’ll be at a more central location that’s easily accessible to everyone.”
During the summer of 2017, renovations are scheduled to take place in the Student Union and the Auditorium.
See the gallery below to view more pictures of the renovated building.
