In downtown Beaverton, the rise of a three-story, 300,500-square-foot high school is hard to miss.

Structures are taking shape, and Skanska USA Building managers and district officials said the new Beaverton High School is scheduled to open in August 2026. The project is expected to cost $253 million (as budgeted) including soft costs, with $221 million of that for direct construction.

The new school is next to the existing one, portions of which date to 1916. At some locations, the new structure is as near as 14 feet to the existing one.

Skanska is serving as the construction manager/general contractor for the project designed by Portland’s BRIC Architecture. About 220 workers labor on site each day.

“Things are clipping right along and looking good for opening next fall,” said Troy Boardman, senior superintendent for Skanska.

The new Beaverton High School will have three stories to host about 1,500 students. Given a limited footprint, designers had no choice but to go vertical.

“We had to make it three stories to meet the capacity requirements,” said Jeffrey Hamman, senior project manager for Beaverton School District.

The project is funded by a 2022 bond approved by voters. Of Beaverton School District’s 54 schools, the high school was most in need of an update, officials said, along with Raleigh Hills Elementary, which is also being rebuilt. Both schools are considered seismically vulnerable.

“A community priority was having a building that’s resilient,” said Aaron Boyle, facilities division manager for Beaverton School District.

Beaverton High is being built to Risk Category IV standards under the International Building Code, meaning it’s designed to be functional immediately after an earthquake.

Essentially, there will be two separate buildings. A seismic joint will allow the structures to move in an earthquake, sliding in a 16-inch gap. Portions of the buildings also will use SidePlate connection systems for resiliency.

Only the cafeteria, built in 2004, will be retained from the existing school. The cafeteria represents the district’s efforts to construct the new high school for “future readiness.” The cafeteria structure could be demolished in years to come in favor of a three-story building if growth drives enrollment well above today’s levels.

“We hope the way that we’ve constructed (the school) allows that flexibility,” Boyle said.

For today’s students, the new Beaverton High will feature 36 general education classrooms, eight science classrooms located in their own wing, three special-education classrooms, four career-and-technical education classrooms and two CTE labs. One classroom will be dedicated for three-dimensional art.

A two-story flex space will be available for a variety of uses. The theater will be wired for modern video and audio. A clinic operated by Virginia Garcia will provide health services to any student within the district.

A gym will have three full courts, an elevated one-eighth-mile track and capacity for 3,000 people to attend events. The gym will be framed by concrete panels that were formed on-site in pouring beds before being tilted up during a weekend with the help of a crane. Each panel weighs 220,000 pounds, Boardman said.

The new school frames a central, 15,500-square-foot courtyard. Walker Macy is the landscape architect for the project.

School entrances and exits will be strictly controlled, district officials said. The new school has no entrances along Southwest Farmington Road, a major thoroughfare.

The project team has had to work around Beaverton High’s busy events schedule while ensuring school staff and students are kept apart from construction activities.

“That has been the biggest challenge,” said Trevor Wyckoff, a Skanska executive vice president. “We’re only a few feet from the existing Beaverton High School during construction.”

Construction has gone smoothly, Skanska officials said. Electrical and mechanical equipment proved to be the most difficult materials to procure, but they were ordered early enough so that no delay resulted, Wyckoff said.

The impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs program has been minimal to date, Wyckoff said.

Major subcontractors contributing to the Beaverton High project include Apollo Mechanical Contractors, Prairie Electric, REFA Erectors, Goodfellow Bros. and Anning-Johnson Co.

Correction: In an earlier version of this article, Jeffrey Hamman’s name was misspelled. Also, he is senior project manager for the Beaverton School District, not Skanska.

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There’s a new emphasis on teaching the skilled trades in Beaverton public schools. With money from a $680 million bond approved by voters in 2014, Beaverton School District is preparing for a renovation and expansion of Merlo Station High School to accommodate a new commercial construction technology program.

CIDA has designed a $1 million shop and classroom space, complete with mechanical, electrical and plumbing mock-up walls. Construction is set to start in March 2020, though no contractor has been named yet.

“We have some really great partners in this work,” said Janine Weir, the school district’s high school success coordinator. They’ve helped design the space, the building and what kinds of skills we need to address with our students. In a sense, we can’t hope to understand what’s happening in the industry if we don’t engage them.”

Merlo Station is joining Aloha and Mountainside as high schools with construction technology programs. Currently, it’s offered as a six-week elective course. However, Merlo Station will host the district’s new magnet program. Students will be able to take part in what career and technical education (CTE) instructor Jon Hauben described as essentially a pre-apprenticeship program.

“We’re trying to give the students the best foundation we can,” he said. “Contractors and unions want to train them through their apprenticeship programs, and we’re trying to give them the soft skills – the beginning skills – they need. It’s a trade exploration where we’re going to expose them to plumbing, electrical – the basics of all these skills.”

The Merlo Station curriculum is used by apprenticeship programs – either union or open shop. To that end, input delivered by area contractors and union training centers has been invaluable, Weir said. Some of the participating firms and groups include Worksystems Inc., Kirby Nagelhout Construction, Walsh Construction and INLINE Commercial Construction, as well as NECA/IBEW Local 48, the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, the Local 16 sheet metal training center and the Local 737 Laborers Training Center. But others are involved too.

“T���re are a million CTE programs popping up now, which is why (Beaverton School District) is engaging in district-level advisory committees,” Weir said. “We have three construction programs now … (and Merlo Station) will be the magnet school for many reasons. It also houses our re-engagement program, Passages. The hope is that by making this a magnet construction tech program we open it to community students and students who are re-engaging through Passages and that in itself becomes dropout prevention – having something where students can see themselves in careers.”

Moreover, the magnet program is intended to specifically appeal to girls and minorities – groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in the construction industry.

Merlo Station over the summer hosted a middle school trades exploration camp for incoming seventh, eighth and ninth grade students. Students interested in the trades were offered a primer on potential careers. They even got hands-on experience constructing wooden formwork and pouring concrete through a series of curb replacement projects at the school district’s headquarters.

Right now, Merlo Station is ramping up its instruction. The full magnet program will include a lot more when it begins in fall 2020.

“We’re going to focus on framing and exposure to trades,” Hauben said. “We’re going to have welding equipment even, and next year we’re really going to be hitting the ground running.��This year it’s about getting these students graduating this year some soft skills and placement into apprenticeship programs if they desire it.”

Few of the students taking Hauben’s course this year intend to pursue careers in construction. Some said they consider it an opportunity to learn life skills.

“I can use this in later life, not as a career, but it could be just things that are in everyday use,” Merlo Station senior Sean Peter said. “If I need to build something in my home, instead of paying somebody else to do it for me, I can do it myself. My dad always tells me to learn some of these basic skills, and he taught me some of those skills in case you buy your own home.”

Junior Eli Portwood wants to become a diesel mechanic. He believes the construction technology course could help him reach that goal.

“I heard the program starts with stuff like this and goes on to welding and electrical, and I find that useful information,” he said. “I figure since I’m here I might as well take it.”
Hauben is excited about the possibilities to be found in an expanded construction and trades course.

“It’s really my hope that as this program gets off the ground that we can go to these industry leaders and say, ‘Hey, this student excels. Keep an eye out where can you place a person with these types of skills.’” he said. “But we have to develop those types of relationships and the reputation of the students that come out of here.”

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General contractor Kirby Nagelhout Construction is seeking bids from subcontractors for work related to security upgrades at five schools within the Beaverton School District.

Bid package 3C includes: demolition, concrete work, new steel bollards, new entry storefront systems, new hollow metal door frames, door relocation, frames and hardware, new ADA operators, exterior siding, new access control systems, new walls, new ceilings, new paint and paint touch-up, HVAC renovations, new lighting, lighting relocation and raceways for new access control systems.

The work in this bid package will be performed at: Barnes Elementary School, McKay Elementary School, Sexton Mountain Elementary School, Mountain View Middle School and the International School of Beaverton.

This project is being paid for with money from a $680 million bond approved by voters in 2014.

A nonmandatory pre-bid meeting has been rescheduled for 3:30 p.m. on March 4 at Barnes Elementary School, at 13730 Walker Road in Beaverton. Bids are due by 2 p.m. on March 22. Prospective bidders can learn more by calling 971-708-9365 or emailing kellyf@kirbynagelhout.com.

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When voters within the Beaverton School District in 2014 approved a $680 million bond measure – the largest school bond in Oregon history – district officials knew they had a huge task in front of them. To simplify that effort, one of their first decisions was to use one design for four new elementary schools.

DLR Group worked with the school district and the city of Beaverton to create a suitable design. Emerio Design and other firms also contributed to the effort, and now Kirby Nagelhout Construction is serving as general contractor. Crews have already built three of the schools – Sato, Vose and Hazeldale – and are now working on the fourth.

William Walker Elementary School is rising at 2350 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd., slightly west of Oregon Route 217. It will replace a building demolished last summer, and offer 87,200 square feet – enough to accommodate up to 750 students, according to the district – on two stories.

“This is the fourth and last of a prototype build,” Beaverton School District project manager Megan Finch said. “(The previous building) was pretty much the original 1950s structure. There weren’t any sort of standards with the buildings (then), and we have a lot of variety, which is sort of hard to manage. So, one of the good things about these protos is that the maintenance is way easier. When you have a problem in one building you can bet it’s going to pop up in the others, so you take care of the others before it happens.”

The bulk of the classroom space will be on the upper floor, allowing use of skylights and ceiling-to-floor windows to let in substantial daylight and increase energy efficiency. A highly efficient thermal wheel, also known as a rotary heat exchanger, is being employed for the HVAC system to reduce energy costs even more.

“T���y’re beautifully bright (classroom) spaces, which I think is really helpful for the students,” Finch said. “It helps improve test scores, it improves learning, and it makes the environment better to be in, in my opinion.”

Currently, construction of William Walker is taking place in four main zones. In sector A, which will house special education classrooms and administrative space, interior metal-framed walls are in place and rough-in is in progress. Sector B includes the commons, cafeteria and gymnasium area; there, all the roof joists are in place and roof decking now covers the space. In sector C, crews are finishing erection of structural steel and installation of steel decking in preparation for the second-story concrete deck pour. Sector D, which will host mechanical and electrical rooms and other back-of-house functions, is roofed, framed and mostly roughed-in.

Also, massive concrete footings are being poured and additional formwork is being constructed for a 10,000-square-foot outdoor, covered play area.

The school district also is partnering with the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District on the project, due to the adjacent Cedar Hills Park. There, a new synthetic turf field and other amenities are being finished and will be made available to the school district. In return, the William Walker playground will be open to the public when school is not in session.

“And that’s really a thing for the whole community,” Finch said. “That park wasn’t really developed, and so they’ve put a bunch of improvements in there – bathrooms, (space for) different activities, volleyball, a splash pad and of course a synthetic turf field. It’s going to be quite an improvement.”

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There’s a plethora of school construction taking place right now in the Portland-metro area – much of it the result of votes cast in 2016 and 2017.

Meanwhile, the Beaverton School District is continuing to tackle projects being paid for with money from a $629 million bond approved by voters in 2014. A new middle school opened in 2016, and a new elementary school followed with the new Mountainside High School in 2017. Replacement buildings for Vose and Hazeldale elementary schools have also been completed. The William Walker Elementary School replacement is under construction and the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy replacement is in the design stage.

One of the district’s largest bond projects is a $27.5 million renovation and expansion of Five Oaks Middle School at 1600 N.W. 173rd Ave. There, general contractor Kirby Nagelhout Construction is in the midst of a multiphase project. Crews are able to work on the Bassetti Architects-designed project while the school operations take place.

“T��� new high school was the bulk of the bond,” said Jessica Pavelka, the district’s project manager for the Five Oaks Middle School renovation. “This is our biggest remodel.”

Crews from Kirby Nagelhout Construction and various subcontractors have started work on at least three of the phases, creating a delicate scheduling balance that requires constant tinkering to keep everything moving forward.

“T��� district has been very cooperative in allowing us, where we can, to jump ahead,” said Roy Moore, site superintendent for Kirby Nagelhout Construction. “And at the same time, where we want to advance they’ve had to tell us, ‘No, we can’t proceed there yet.’ If it stops in one area, we’re pushing forward in another area.”

Phases 2, 3 and 4A are in motion. Phases 2 and 3 both involve construction of expanded classroom space, while phase 4A covers the renovation of the school entrance and administration offices to make them more secure.

Phase 3 work started soon after Phase 2, with concrete and structural steel crews moving seamlessly from one phase to the next.

“We were able to get a jump on that because we had our concrete crews and steel erectors go right over and do the other phase,” Moore said. “So we’ve actually jumped ahead.”

Phase 4A demolition and plumbing work, meanwhile, is being done at the front of the school in preparation for the overhaul of the office and entryway.

Overall, workers will create or overhaul over 40 classrooms, and create four new science labs, a computer lab, special education amenities and a new counseling wing. Throughout the project, security and technology updates are paramount.

Phases 2 and 4A are set to wrap up this spring, while Phase 3 will then move forward at full speed.

“That’s part of summer work and that will allow us to get almost two months of a jump start into it,” Moore said. “T��� summer scope of work is monstrous and we have the least amount of time.”

Jumping ahead, the entire project is scheduled for completion by spring 2020.

“This is somewhat new for us to be doing work while occupied,” Pavelka said. “T���re are circumstances we’ve had to do that, but for the most part it’s been a summer blitz with most of our projects.”

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With the last of now on tap, Beaverton School District officials are seeking a contractor to provide construction services.

Now, the district has issued a request for qualifications of contractors interested in performing construction services for the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy replacement project. When formed in 1992, the academy opened in the former C.E. Mason Elementary School, which was built in 1949. A new 20,000-square-foot performing arts center was added to the campus in 2010.

The envisioned scope of work calls for replacement of the original school building with a new structure alongside the existing performing arts center. The initial estimated cost of the new building was roughly $28.3 million. But that estimate is several years old and does not account for recent increases in the costs of materials and labor.

The project’s designer is DLR Group.

A nonmandatory pre-qualification conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Nov. 15, at the ACMA, 11375 S.W. Center St., Beaverton. Interested contractors must then submit their qualifications by 2 p.m. on Dec. 11.

The original construction schedule for this project called for delivery within one year. Because of “current market conditions and local labor shortages with the recent passage of neighboring district construction bond measures,” however, the district announced earlier this year to two years. Other factors in that decision include the need for extensive road construction around the site as well as site constraints stemming from location in a residential neighborhood.

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Resulting from one of the largest bonds passed in Oregon’s history, Beaverton’s 334,000-square-foot Mountainside High School is the largest comprehensive high school in the state. Set on 47 acres, the school serves 2,200 students in a “loop stacking” program that houses nearly all formal and informal academic spaces.

Open-concept teacher planning and circulation from the loop’s interior allow light to spill through these areas and into the classrooms, which also benefit from natural daylight due to their position along the exterior wall. Key program pieces including the gym, theater and commons are located close to the front door, easing access to high-traffic areas and streamlining wayfinding for students and visitors.

Wood salvaged from two onsite barns that were demolished clads a central stair and the walls of the theater lobby. A second-story media center overlooks both the commons and the courtyard, and the courtyard features outdoor classroom spaces.

Mountainside also provides robust Career Technical Education components, including a culinary kitchen/classroom; robotics space; and a 3,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art woodshop. The school’s fully ducted, dust-collection system is installed with a wood-pellet maker, allowing students to sell the byproduct as a fundraiser.

Chris Linn, a principal with Bora Architects, said the school’s advanced technology sets it apart, as does its dual role as a community emergency shelter because of its ability to withstand a higher magnitude earthquake than a typical school.

“T��� brick façade is particularly unique. The pattern transitions in color from top to bottom and was designed using parametric software – a first for us and for the brick masons,” Linn said.

Along with some bad weather conditions and an already-tight schedule, challenges included the site’s sloped topography. A large volume of predominately clay soil needed to be moved and reused as fill. By expediting mass excavation and identifying opportunities to reuse soils from the site, the project team avoided routing hundreds of dump-truck loads through the community. In addition, unforeseen conditions that arose during excavation required Hoffman Construction as general contractor and Bora to collaborate with city staff to implement a design change to the storm drainage and sewer systems.

Mountainside’s multiple athletic fields required 10.5 acres of turf, making it the largest high school turf-installation project in the Pacific Northwest. And its auditorium was built with a “ship in a bottle” construction approach that reversed some typical sequences and utilized Building Information Modeling.

“We re-learned a key lesson – that it takes a very high level of teamwork between the owner, the general contractor and the architect to successfully complete large, complex projects,” Linn said, noting staff with the Beaverton School District were “consummate professionals” and Hoffman’s “dedication to doing the work well and doing it right the first time was something to behold.”

Submitted by: Bora Architects and Hoffman Construction Co.

��Location: Beaverton, Oregon

Project cost: $184.6 million

Start date: September 2014 (design); July 2015 (construction)

Completion: November 2017

Owner/developer: Beaverton School District

Architect: Bora Architects

Landscape architect: Walker Macy

Engineers: Harper Houf Peterson Righellis, KPFF, PAE

General contractor: Hoffman Construction Co.

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If a new elementary school under construction in Beaverton looks familiar, there’s a good reason why – it is the latest in a series of campuses Beaverton School District is building from a prototype design by DLR Group. Hazeldale Elementary School is the third of four bond-funded K-5 schools to be built from the prototype design; two were completed last fall, and construction of the fourth will begin this summer.

The new Hazeldale school is replacing an outdated campus built in 1942 that was no longer meeting the community’s needs. The structure had gained multiple additions over the years, was expensive to maintain, and lacked current technology and capacity for projected growth of the student body. As such, the school was one of three K-5 sites identified as prime candidates for replacement as part of a $680 million bond passed in 2014.

The school is being built by general contractor Kirby Nagelhout Construction, which began work last summer. The two-story concrete and steel structure, at 87,200 square feet, will be the district’s largest K-5 campus. It will feature a ground-floor commons area, a gymnasium, administrative and service spaces, and kindergarten and special education classrooms. The second floor will house classrooms for grades one through five.

In addition to 32 classrooms, the school will have nine teaching spaces, including five flexible commons areas. The 6,717-square-foot gymnasium will be dividable to support two simultaneous physical education classes. A central courtyard will provide daylight penetration in classrooms and common areas, and will feature a pair of demonstration stormwater ponds that will collect water channeled from a rooftop drain. The drain will run through a colored pipe that will be visible inside the building and then reach an exit spout in the courtyard.

Site upgrades to the campus will also include a 10,000-square-foot covered play area and a new soccer field. Vehicle entries will be separated, with accommodations for buses on one side of the building and accommodations for other vehicles on the opposite side. Whereas vehicle entries were previously on Southwest Farmington Road, they will be moved to side streets for improved safety and traffic flow.

The project team includes landscape architect Cameron McCarthy and civil engineer Harper Houf Peterson Righellis; DLR Group is performing the structural and mechanical engineering. The project will be completed this summer, and the school is scheduled for an August 27 opening.

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In 2017, voters in Portland-metro areas approved construction bonds totaling $2 billion for school districts. That same year, voters approved $500 million more for school construction projects in other parts of the state, including $268 million for Bend-LaPine Schools in Central Oregon.

When added to construction bond measures supported by voters in previous years – including $680 million for the Beaverton School District in 2014 – the total amount being invested in school projects now and in the near future is approximately $5 billion.

But the increasing complexity of educational facility projects coupled with concerns about a shortage of skilled workers has school district officials examining new ways to design, construct and even manage those projects. The days of winning a contract through straight low bid are fast disappearing and increasingly, school district bond administrators say, they’re looking for approaches – from construction manager-general contractor to pre-qualifications with requests for proposals – that best fit the specifics of individual projects.

Portland Community College, for example, was still finishing projects from an earlier bond when voters last year approved a new $185 million construction bond. Now PCC officials are looking at using some of that money to tackle its first design-build project: a 25,000-square-foot pre-apprenticeship center.

“This is a new thing for us, so we’ve been doing a lot of research,” Linda Degman, PCC’s bond program director, told an audience of 250 who gathered last week for the first event in a Builder Breakfast series being offered by the Daily Journal of Commerce in 2018.

The Beaverton School District already has tackled about half of the projects it plans to complete with the bond money that voters approved in 2014. But that still leaves about $300 million worth of work that needs to be done by 2022, Paul Odenthal, the school district’s executive administrator for facilities, said during the breakfast panel discussion.

“T���re are still some large nuggets out there,” he said.

Projects planned by the Beaverton School District for 2018 and 2019 include roof replacements and HVAC upgrades at several existing elementary and middle schools.

Aloha High School will be the site of a long list of projects this year and next. The school, along with Beaverton High School, is on tap to receive auditorium safety improvements. The Aloha building also is in line for a seismic upgrade, a first-phase roof replacement and a career technical education project. A career technical education project also is scheduled to take place at Westview High School in 2018-19.

One of the district’s biggest projects won’t begin until next year, when work is scheduled to begin to replace the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy. The project is slated for completion in 2021.

The district also is looking at more than 20 roof replacements on existing buildings. That work is expected to last through 2022.

Portland Public Schools also is finishing up projects from previously approved bond measures while gearing up to begin planning for yet another round of work that will be tackled with money from a $790 million bond that voters approved last year. That brought the total amount of money Portland Public Schools has for its capital improvement program to $1.4 billion, and includes $185 million for health and safety improvements ranging from roof replacements and lead paint abatement to water pipe replacements and sprinkler upgrades at existing schools.

Meanwhile, Hillsboro School District is gearing up to use the $405 million that voters approved last year to build two new schools, renovate several existing schools and address health and safety issues throughout district buildings.

“This bond will touch every one of our projects,” said Adam Stewart, capital projects officer for the Hillsboro School District.

While school districts may have specific project needs, there are some common threads when it comes to what they need prospective partners – from architectural firms to construction companies – to bring to the table.

While having a range of projects at various stages has always posed challenges when it comes to scheduling and coordinating, the current shortage of skilled labor as baby boomers retire poses an additional hurdle.

“T��� challenge right now is to make sure we have coverage for all of our projects,” Stewart said.

The time when school grounds and campuses aren’t occupied also is growing increasingly shorter. That means that safety and flexibility, already important skills for project team members to bring to the table, will become even more important in district hiring decisions when it comes to awarding contracts.

District representatives across the board said they’re examining the best ways to bundle smaller bond-funded projects in a way that will allow a large number of companies to participate while still making the packages financially worthwhile for contractors.

“That work is hard to know how to package, so we’re looking for input and suggestions,” Jung said.

The amount of money available for local school construction projects may grow even more later this month. Three Washington state school districts have placed bond measures on the ballot for a Feb. 13 special election. Evergreen School District, in Vancouver, Washington, is asking its voters to support a $695 million school construction bond, while Battle Ground School District is looking for voter approval of a $224.9 million bond measure and La Center School District is pursuing a $48 million bond measure.

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Last year, Beaverton voters approved a $680 million bond measure that will eventually pay for seven new schools, including a new high school.

But right now the focus is on building four new elementary schools, and their design will be both innovative and cost-efficient, Beaverton School District spokeswoman Maureen Walker said. Cost savings will come from use of a prototype design for all four schools, DLR Group architect Levi Patterson said.

Plans call for construction of a new one on Kaiser Road as well as replacements for Vose Elementary, William Walker Elementary and Hazeldale Elementary. Construction of a new middle school on Timberline Drive is slated to finish this fall. It will serve as a temporary elementary school, on a rotating basis, as the others are built over the next few years.

DLR Group created the prototype design, which will be adjusted for each location, Patterson said.

“We are trying to make a building that could be flipped or mirrored without sacrificing solar orientation, and we took all the classrooms to the second floor,” he said. “We wanted to separate it into public and private – basic partitions that allow us to eliminate some problems.”

Classrooms in the two-story buildings will have skylights and views, Patterson said.

“Access to daylight and access to views have measurable effects for students’ performance,” he said. “Now they can have a view out without worrying about people being able to see in. That basic foundation was a big driver for us.”

The design also is a departure from traditional elementary school design of an E or H shape, he said. Classrooms’ location on the second floor provides more safety for students.

Aaron Boyle, construction operations supervisor for the Beaverton School District, said safety was a big part of deciding to place classrooms on the second floor in the prototype design.

“We put really strong emphasis on maximizing the safety of the design and separating learning spaces from public spaces,” Boyle said.

The idea is to funnel all visitors – whether they are heading for common areas, the gym or the library – through the front office, he said. That gives school officials more control over access.

Construction of the new Vose Elementary will start this fall; its students in the next school year will attend classes in the new middle school, Walker said.

The new Hazeldale Elementary will be built next, and its students will attend the new middle school starting in fall 2017. Plans call for the still unnamed middle school to open by 2021, after the new elementary schools are built. The middle school, on 16 acres, will eventually serve about 1,100 students.

Bids for work on Vose Elementary will be accepted beginning in April, Walker said. The existing school, built in 1962, will be demolished and replaced with a $24.8 million, 87,253-square-foot building able to accommodate 750 students.

Boyle said the design will be “tweaked as we go along” and that many voices – including educators and community members – had a say.

“We had a lot of design concepts to try and achieve, but lighting and security were two most important,” he said.

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