FOX C-6: A summer of growth
Fox addresses overcrowding with construction projects
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| ANDREW JANSEN PHOTO Joe Holaus, a floor layer with Zickel Flooring, lays tile Monday in a classroom in the new addition to Seckman High School. |
"The Seckman High School addition is the biggest project we have going on right now," said Assistant Superintendent of School Services Tim Crutchley.
Seckman High School opened to students in the Fox School District for the first time 11 years ago, but the constant growth in the area has added a constant crowding inside the building. Now the school has now breached its capacity.To create extra space, construction is nearly complete on a two-story wing of 22 classrooms to the building, costing $3,313,006. The new wing runs parallel to Seckman Road and attaches to the eight classrooms added to the building a few years ago.
Crutchley said the completion date is set for July 1, and the wing should be ready to open in the fall.
Last fall the high school boasted 1,804 students. When the school first opened in the fall of 1997, enrollment was about 1,000 students, growing steadily by adding about 50 students each year. An extra surge of growth added about 100 students in 2005 and 2006.
The campus lost 45 parking spaces for the building of the new classrooms, but a new parking lot behind Seckman Elementary provides 260 new parking spots, nearly doubling the previous available space for parking. Construction of the new lot cost about $253,000.
The district is also continuing to move forward with its new middle school project.
According to Crutchley, the contractor is scheduled to complete rough grading at the site July 31, and construction on the estimated $12 million new school should begin by the end of this summer.
The district purchased 181 acres in November 2006 behind the Williamsburg subdivision off of Route M near St. Luke's Church Road to build the school. Plans are to eventually build a K-12 campus at the site. The district chose to start the campus off with a new middle school because of the overcrowding at Seckman Middle School.
District officials hope to open the new school to seventh and eighth graders in the fall of 2010.
The Fox district currently consists of 11 elementary schools, three middle schools and two high schools.
