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Portland Public Schools’ Board of Education on Monday reviewed new schematic designs for the $71 million Roosevelt High School modernization project scheduled to be built beginning in 2015.

Plans call for construction of a 500-seat auditorium, a 5,400-square-foot auxiliary gym and a commons area that will connect all disparate parts of the school, said Michelle Platter, capital project director for the district.

“Not a lot has changed,” she said. “The only change of note is the increase of the size of the career and technical education spaces. They had been 6,000 square feet, but the space is now going to be 7,500 square feet.”

The interconnectivity of space is a key component of the project, Platter said.

“In its current layout, the school is a series of separate buildings,” she said. “We’re unifying the school and connecting all the facilities.”

Lease Crutcher Lewis is the construction manager-general contractor for the Roosevelt project, and Seattle-based Bassetti Architects is the architect. Construction will be unique in that students will occupy the school while work is performed, said Pam Knowles, co-chairwoman of the PPS board. Some areas will be cordoned off during construction, she said.

“We’re able to do that because we’re building Roosevelt to a capacity of 1,350 students with common areas to provide for 1,700 students,” she said. “There’s room to move.”

Franklin and Grant high schools – both due for upgrades stemming from the district’s $482 million bond measure passed in 2012 – will relocate students during construction.

Board members are likely to approve the schematic design plans when they vote after a public hearing on Monday, Platter said. If the OK were given, the project would then move into the design development stage.

The school board also will weigh a proposal to borrow $8 million to pay for additional classroom space at Roosevelt and Franklin high schools. The bank loan would be repaid with premiums generated by the first increment of bond financing, said Jim Owens, executive director of the district’s Office of School Modernization.

“We had initially looked at getting money by taking it away from our summer construction projects,” he said. “That plan is off the table.”