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Tigard residents and parents of students at James Templeton Elementary and Twality Middle schools will have a chance to voice their opinions about major renovations planned at both. School officials and architects from DOWA-IBI Group will be on hand on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Twality Middle School cafeteria.

鈥淚t will provide information to the community on the project,鈥� said Karina Ruiz, a DOWA-IBI Group principal in charge of the project. 鈥淚t allows the community to provide their perspective.鈥�

The projects are possible because of a $291 million bond measure that voters in the Tigard-Tualatin School District approved in November 2016. Other bond-funded work includes: seismic improvements at Fowler Middle School, an addition to the Durham Center and renovations to Tualatin High, Tigard High and Art Rukin Elementary schools; all are planned in the next three years.

鈥淲e have been working with school design teams to identify some of the elements that need to be part of the new buildings,鈥� said Susan Stark Haydon, community relations director for Tigard-Tualatin School District.

Construction at James Templeton is expected to begin in spring 2018 while work at Twality will begin in summer 2019. She said that workshops like the one Saturday at Twality Middle School help district officials and designers get a better idea of what the public thinks should be included in the facility upgrades.

The workshops also give area residents a chance to weigh in on issues like traffic congestion resulting from construction.

鈥淭here are circulation issues,鈥� Ruiz said. 鈥淲hether you are a parent or a neighbor, you are impacted by people and buses dropping off students.鈥�

Currently, the James Templeton and Twality projects are in the concept phase. Designers and school officials are still looking at the big picture.

鈥淭he really specific items of where things are located 鈥� that level of detail will be addressed later,鈥� Ruiz said.

The projects have drawn substantial concern from the community, Ruiz added. The workshop should help designers come up with concepts to address community needs.

鈥淭he point of the workshop is to help improve design,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e want to make sure we have thought about everything. We want to open it up to people about what they want to hear and what they want of the design.鈥�