MCHS-WMS revamp mulled

By Jane DeGeorge
Eagle Reporter
Published: June 26, 2008

Madison high school and middle school students may present plays and perform music in a brand new auditorium in the near future. That’s just one idea school officials are looking at as part of possible plans to improve the Madison County High School-Wetsel Middle School complex.

At the school board’s meeting last week, Charlottesville-based Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects presented an encyclopedia-size report that included construction, expansion and renovation possibilities of the building.

The report is based on recommendations from a facilities planning committee that included schools staff and local officials, as well as information gathered from a $20,000 taxpayer-funded study of the MCHS-WMS complex that was completed in late 2007.

The earlier study of the building reported that the schools need additional classroom space, a safe parking setup and an upgraded heating and cooling system, among other things.

The two basic options being considered are renovation and expansion of the current complex or renovation of the complex and construction of a new and separate school building – on the county-owned Hoover Ridge property adjacent to Madison Primary School – that would become the new home of Wetsel Middle School.

Renovation of the current complex – which could cost between $34-$38 million, according to the report – would be a short-term solution to the school system’s current issues with the building, Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects representative Hal Hart told the board at its regularly scheduled June 9 meeting.

The complex is somewhat “land locked,” according to Hart, and provides little room for an additional expansion down the road.

“If you are envisioning enlarging the building again in future, I’m not sure you could,” he said, adding that some expansion of the building could possibly occur into a parking lot on the southern side of the high school.

Separating the middle school from the current building would be a more long-term solution since “if growth does occur, [the current building] would be able to absorb it better,” if it was reserved solely as a high school, the architectural company representative said. This option could cost between $42-$46 million, according to the study.

The report’s suggestions for either option refer to similar improvements to the current complex, including connecting both sides of the building, establishing a joint mechanical system and creating a “commons” area in the middle of the complex, according to Hart.

Both possibilities include plans to construct a new auditorium and stage and expand the current cafeteria. The current auditorium – which is “vastly undersized,” according to Hart – would be converted into a library.

New classrooms to serve the high school’s career and technical programs, including cosmetology, agricultural and nursing, would be constructed all in the same area, he said.

The plans also include moving Mountaineer Lane, a road that runs directly in front of both entrances to the high school and the middle school, farther north from the building. A parking lot would be constructed between the road and the building and bus drop off would possibly move from the southern parking lot to the front of the building.

If the current complex was converted into solely a high school, extra space within the building could be open for community use, including the Boys and Girls Club of Madison County or for adult education classes.

The Madison County School Board is expected to again discuss this report – which cost $12,000 – at its next regularly scheduled meeting set for 7 p.m. Monday, July 14. Informational materials about this project, prepared by Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects, is available on the company’s Web site at http://www.cra-architects.com/client_projects/clientHome.asp?projid=409.