The project team preparing to deliver a new two-story, 24,582-square-foot preschool/elementary school building in Tigard has received a conditional use permit for construction.

Plans for call for construction of the new building, demolition of an existing elementary school building and an adjacent preschool building, relocation of two portable buildings, and site improvements. Hearings officer Joe Turner approved the permit application during a land use hearing on April 10.

St. Anthony Catholic School, a private institution, serves children from preschool through eighth grade. The new building will occupy 2.7 acres of the 6.5-acre property at 9905 S.W. McKenzie St. that has a church, a community center, and school-related infrastructure.

GBD Architects designed the building, and AlphaCon Inc. will serve as general contractor. The project team also includes Otak (civil engineering), KPFF Consulting Engineers (structural engineering), and Shapiro Didway (landscape design).

The new elementary school will be a wood-framed building with a focal entry point. It will include administrative spaces, two preschool classrooms connecting to an outdoor play area, two classrooms per grade level for K-5, and a covered, outdoor play area.

The building will be near the existing middle school, which will allow creation of defined spaces for drivers to drop off and pick up students, GBD Architects associate principal Dustin White said. Other site improvements will include reconfiguration of an existing surface parking lot and landscaping. Also, benches are proposed along the right of way.

The portable buildings will receive enhancements so that they blend with the new school’s classrooms.

The total project cost is $11.15 million for the new school. St. Anthony Catholic School has raised $10.53 million so far.

The existing preschool and elementary school buildings will be occupied with classes in session during construction of the new building. They will be demolished after construction is complete.

AlphaCon Inc. is scheduled to break ground at the end of September and expected to finish work in 15 months.

“The new building will house our preschool through fifth grade and upon completion we will remodel our current middle school,” Andy Nichols, executive director of St. Anthony Catholic Community, stated in an email.

The remodel will include repainting the existing middle school building. That project is estimated to cost $2 million.

St. Anthony Catholic School also plans to add a new art building at the northern portion of the site, where the portable buildings will be relocated for now.

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The Reynolds School District hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at its new Troutdale Elementary School in Troutdale to celebrate completion of the $24 million project. Designed by BLRB Architects and built by general contractor Bremik Construction, the project is one of three new elementary school replacements carried out by the Reynolds district in recent years as part of a $125 million bond measure passed by voters in 2015.

The new school has 72,000 square feet of floor space spread over two stories, with a large multi-purpose room and cafeteria linking a performing arts stage and gymnasium serving as its main hub. The new building replaces an 88-year-old structure.

The new school will have a capacity of 519 students spread over 24 classrooms. The building will be open to students for classes in September. Check out our photo gallery below, taken Wednesday, Aug. 22, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and building tour hosted by the school district.

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Oregon school districts planning for growth face a delicate task balancing demographics, politics and money before asking voters to approve property tax increases to build new schools.

For an illustrative example, look to Hillsboro School District.

The district is seeing strong growth, particularly in single-family homes, in areas around North Plains and South Hillsboro. Those families will eventually send their children to Hillsboro schools.

Hillsboro School District has convened a bond advisory committee to look at what facilities the district needs and when the community will need them. Timing is critical: If Hillsboro waits too long, schools will be overcrowded. Yet if it builds too soon, schools could be left underutilized.

“There’s that fine line before really crowding your schools and working proactively to build schools,” spokeswoman Beth Glaser said.

Hillsboro School District is tentatively looking to ask voters to approve funding for two to three new schools through a bond measure on the November 2017 or May 2018 ballot, Glaser said.

School districts across the state track a range of data to decide when to pursue money for a new school. Enrollment is the most important factor, but housing starts, population projections and even birth data from prior years can help predict enrollment.

Each district typically has a committee that evaluates facility needs. School staff members work with the committees, and the school board and superintendent, to plan for growth. Any major school construction requires a bond that is referred to voters’ ballots by school boards. When boards opt to do so, and how much money they ask for, requires them to delicately balance political needs and practical realities.

For Hillsboro, a future bond issue would most likely fund three new elementary schools – one in North Plains and two in South Hillsboro, an area where developers are building infrastructure ahead of master-planned housing developments. Reed’s Crossing, led by developer Newland Communities, could eventually encompass 4,000 housing units.

Other developments could double that number, bringing many new families to the area, Glaser said. The district anticipates about 600 new housing units per year will be constructed in South Hillsboro over the next decade or so.

Then there’s North Plains.

“North Plains is one of the areas where we’re looking at putting forth a recommendation for a new elementary school, and that’s because of the building that’s currently under way,” Glaser said. “We simply don’t have enough capacity up there in our one elementary school for all of those students.”

Hillsboro School District anticipates asking for about $300 million in bond funding, Glaser said. The bond measure, if approved, would keep property taxes roughly equal to current levels because of a “natural drop” in tax levels, she said. In part, that reflects a political calculation.

“If we don’t fill that gap with another bond ask, rates will drop by about $1.25 (per $1,000 of assessed value), and it’s pretty difficult once they drop to ask voters to raise it again,” she said.

Hillsboro School District serves more than 20,000 students in 25 elementary schools, four middle schools and four high schools. The district has no immediate need for additional middle or high schools, Glaser said.

Bend and surrounding communities are also experiencing strong growth. Bend-La Pine Schools, a district that serves Bend, La Pine and Sunriver, plans to build four new elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools by 2035, said Mike Tiller, the district’s executive director of facilities.

“The most immediate need on that list is a high school,” said Brad Henry, Bend-La Pine’s chief operations and financial officer. “Our high schools are currently at capacity (and) projected to go over capacity next year.”

Bend-La Pine officials use population projections from Portland State University, along with internal enrollment data, to gauge future growth. The district looks at birth data from five years prior to estimate kindergarten enrollment.

This fall, the district saw overall enrollment jump by 500 students, or nearly 3 percent.

“It’s fast growth, which is good,” Henry said. “It allows us to offer more programs. There are some challenges that come with it and most of (the challenges) are around facilities.”

Fall 2016 enrollment represented the strongest annual growth since 1991, Tiller said.

“We’re seeing growth in our schools across all grades, which suggests people are moving into the area,” he said.

The Bend district’s Sites and Facilities Committee is expected to bring a recommendation to the school board soon with a plan for a bond to pay for the next five to seven years of construction.

“We’re not quite to a point where we know the timeline yet, but there will be something that goes to the board this calendar year,” Henry said.

Portland Public Schools has faced declining enrollment for years. The district is focused on renovating existing buildings rather than new construction, spokesman Jon Coney said.

“Opening new schools hasn’t really been on our radar screen,” he said.

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The Beaverton School District recently announced its upcoming procurement schedule. One goal for work deriving from the $680 million bond that voters passed in 2014 is for 10 percent of the contract value for consulting services and construction contracts to go toward firms certified as minority- or woman-owned, or emerging small businesses.

Following is a list of projects, services needed and anticipated solicitation dates:

• District-wide security upgrades; design; November 2015

• District-wide auditorium upgrades; design; November 2015

• North Bethany Elementary School; construction manager-general contractor; November 2015

• Conestoga Middle School re-pipe of domestic water; design; November 2015

• Sunset High School team room addition; general contractor; November 2015

• Vose Elementary School replacement; proposed alternative procurement: qualifications/bid two-step method; December 2015

• District-wide security upgrades; general contractor; February 2016

• McKay Elementary School ADA upgrades; general contractor; March 2016

• Conestoga Middle School re-pipe of domestic water; general contractor; March 2016

• Cedar Park Middle School HVAC replacement; general contractor; March 2016

• Meadow Park Middle School HVAC replacement; general contractor; March 2016

• Maintenance facility renovation; design; July 2016

Additional project information and budgets can be found at www.beaverton.k12.or.us/depts/facilities/Pages/2014-Bond-Program-Project-List.aspx. Current solicitations are available at .

South Cooper Mountain High School subcontractor bid packages through Hoffman Construction can be accessed by visiting www.hoffmancorp.com/hoffman_opps/south-cooper-mountain-high-school/.

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The West Linn-Wilsonville School District passed a big hurdle on Aug. 17 when the Wilsonville City Council voted unanimously to annex into the city 40 acres where a new middle school will be built.

The district owns the land on Advance Road and the school has been planned for at least 10 years, said Tim Woodley, director of operations for the school district. Voters approved an $84.5 million bond issue last November to pay for the school and a few smaller projects.

“It is a major accomplishment to get it annexed,” Woodley said. “The site was just a rural county property and three or four years ago we petitioned Metro to bring it inside the UGB (urban growth boundary). We accomplish that and it sat that way while we got the bond on the ballot.”

Plans call for devoting 20 acres for the middle school and 10 acres for a future primary school. The district plans to donate the remaining 10 acres to the city for a park.

IBI Group of Portland will serve as architect for the middle school project, Woodley said. A general contractor has not been selected.

In addition to annexing the Advance Road property, the city council also approved two other ordinances, to change the zoning for the site from exclusive farm use to public facility and to amend the city’s comprehensive plan designation for the property from agricultural to public use. Second readings of all three ordinances are planned for the next city council meeting on Sept. 10.

The next step in the process for the still-unnamed school is for the school district to go back to the city council with a development plan.

“Then we will have more details about the design of the site,” Woodley said. “It will be a true land use action and we will probably make an application in October.”

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Nearly two and a half years after fire damaged portions of Woodburn High School, the Woodburn School District has reached a settlement with its insurance company that will allow it to move forward with reconstruction plans.

The district will receive a total of $9.7 million from its insurance company, Property and Casualty Coverage for Education, for damage to the school that resulted from a four-alarm fire set by three students in May 2012. With an eye toward possibly starting construction next year, the district expects to issue a request for proposals for design services “within the next few months,” Chuck Ransom, district superintendent, said.

The district originally planned to have construction on some of the school’s damaged portions begin just a few months after the fire. The Portland office of the architectural firm now known as DOWA-IBI Group and Portland-based engineering firm Nishkian Dean were hired to work on preliminary plans for the project.

But the claims process became tangled – and all work being done on the project stopped – when the district’s $11.8 million estimate turned out to be more than PACE thought it was obligated to cover.

The insurance company agreed to pay $7.1 million in damages for reconstruction. But it balked at reimbursing the district for incidental costs, including rentals of trailers used as portable classrooms since the fire and $1.5 million to install a sprinkler system in the school.

“There was some controversy over (the sprinklers) soon after the designs started coming in for the rebuild back in 2012,” Ransom said. “Initially the city said rebuilding would require sprinklers. That was disputed by the insurer, and that took a long time to resolve.”

Eventually, the issue ended up at the state level. The state sided with PACE, determining that the damaged portion of the school could be rebuilt without sprinklers by keeping the design true to original plans.

Like many of the district schools, Woodburn High School was designed in the 1970s at a time when sprinklers weren’t required in schools. That law has changed, though, as has the way that schools use space to best serve students. Rebuilding the high school following a design that was roughly four decades old wasn’t feasible for the district, nor was creating a school without sprinklers.

The district could have pressed the sprinkler issue in court, Ransom said. But that would have required starting construction without any money in hand.

“In a lawsuit, you have to go after costs actually incurred, versus having money in hand (through a settlement),” he said.

In the end, the district and PACE spent two months in mediation, finally agreeing that the district should receive $2.6 million in addition to the money it already had received.

“One of the advantages … with the settlement is that it allows us to … proceed with construction of the building,” Ransom said. “We intend to sprinkle the building; it’s the right thing to do for the community and for kids. And, it allows us some flexibility with what we can do with the design.”

The district will begin holding community sessions to brainstorm what a rebuild of the damaged portion of the school might look like. In addition, there’s a good chance it will place a bond measure on the ballot next May to try to drum up money for school expansions and improvements that would include a sprinkler system.

District officials are hoping to receive enough RFP responses to allow them to select a design firm for the high school project as well as build a pool of qualified firms to handle future work for the district, Ransom said.

“It’s not that unusual for a district to have a pool of two or three architects,” he said. “I’m not saying we wouldn’t use DOWA (for the high school project), but we would like to expand the pool.”

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The new Roosevelt Middle School in Eugene is designed to change over time. That will allow it to keep pace with new trends in education, said Alyssa Leeviraphan of Mahlum Architects, one of the project’s designers.

“The flexibility – that’s a big theme,” she said. “If you’ve got a flexible space, you can adapt to what’s coming up.”

Flexibility is evident throughout plans being developed by Mahlum Architects’ Portland office and Eugene-based Robertson | Sherwood | Architects for a $41.5 million bond-funded project to replace the aging middle school in South Eugene.

Some classrooms will be able to cater to a variety of uses, and be adjacent to meeting rooms where students can study in smaller groups or work individually. Most furniture, including shelving and white boards, will be on wheels.

Based on feedback from teachers, district staffers and parents, designers were tasked with creating a layout that allows students to loop through the school and learn about different academic or career paths.

The 97,000-square-foot school building will wrap around a central courtyard with multiple access points; students there will be able to socialize or participate in outdoor science lessons and art projects.

Glass will be a prominent material throughout and allow students to see from the hallway activity in spaces like the “maker’s lab” – a combined shop, home economics and art classroom, Mahlum associate Rene Berndt said.

“There are not a lot of boring, empty corridors, but there are engaging spaces,” he said. “The idea is to pique (students’) interest and discover what they like.”

The new school on East 24th Avenue will be built west of the existing 105,000-square-foot school on a site with soccer fields and tennis courts close to Amazon Creek and an adjacent wetland. Eugene School District officials are anticipating the possibility of donating a six-acre parcel that holds the current Roosevelt Middle School for a new YMCA, district facilities director Jon Lauch said.

“We look forward to the day when we have a brand new middle school and a brand new YMCA right next to each other,” he said.

The replacement of Roosevelt Middle School will be paid for via a $170 million bond that voters passed in May 2013. Other projects include replacements of Howard and River Road/El Camino del Río elementary schools and a renovation/expansion of the Arts & Technology Academy middle school.

A 2002 long-range district facilities plan first identified Roosevelt Middle School, built in 1950, in need of replacement, Lauch said. According to a master plan for the school completed by Eugene-based PIVOT Architecture in 2004, it would be cheaper to tear down the school and rebuild it than renovate it.

“It doesn’t meet any of our educational specifications for what we want in a school,” Lauch said.

The new school will be vastly more efficient and meet the district’s increased security requirements, he said.

“Roosevelt is built in a way that has numerous exterior entrances,” he said. “Trying to supervise who is coming and going from the school is very difficult … The way we design schools now is we try to limit the front entries.”

Security has been a major consideration in the design process, Berndt said. It’s one reason for the theme of transparency throughout the building.

“There is no hidden space,” Berndt said. “If there is someone that shouldn’t be in the space, he will be seen.”

The design team was also tasked by the district to achieve at least a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver rating for the project, Leeviraphan said. Sustainable features could include rainwater harvesting and visible solar panels tied into educational programs.

Feedback from teachers and parents was crucial in the design process, Berndt said. Input from community meetings helped Mahlum designers develop plans to place a classroom for choir and one for drama next to the cafeteria with a movable partition in between. The partition can remain in place for more intimate performances in the drama classroom or removed to allow people sitting in the cafeteria to become the audience.

“We are becoming aware that you can’t design a school from the top down,” Berndt said. “You have to talk to the people.”

Eugene School District bond-funded projects:

Roosevelt Middle School replacement

Location: 680 E. 24th Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $41.5 million

Construction start date: spring 2015

Anticipated completion date: fall 2016

Architects: Mahlum Architects, Robertson | Sherwood | Architects

Howard Elementary School replacement

Location: 700 Howard Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $32 million

Construction start date: fall 2014

Anticipated completion date: fall 2015

Architects: PIVOT Architecture, DOWA-IBI Group

River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary School replacement

Location: 120 W. Hilliard Lane, Eugene

Approximate cost: $24 million

Construction start date: spring 2015

Anticipated completion date: fall 2016

Architects: PIVOT Architecture, DOWA-IBI Group

Arts & Technology Academy renovation and expansion

Location: 1650 W. 22nd Ave., Eugene

Approximate cost: $35 million

Construction start date: 2015

Anticipated completion date: 2017

Architects: Rowell Brokaw Architects, Opsis Architecture

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Construction leaders celebrated Tuesday’s election results, including passage of Beaverton School District‘s $680 million capital improvement bond measure and others around the state.

The Beaverton bond will provide money for 27 projects, including a $109 million new high school off of Southwest Scholls Ferry Road. The impact on the industry will be immediate and last for years, said John Rakowitz, director of public affairs for Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Other school bond measures that passed will provide: $26.7 million for Fern Ridge School District in Lane and Douglas counties, $18 million for Pleasant Hill School District in Lane County, $2.1 million for Sheridan School District in Yamhill County, and $2 million for the Willamina School District, according to unofficial results posted by the Oregon School Boards Association.

Three school bond measures failed: $65 million for Woodburn School District, $23 million for Yamhill-Carlton School District and $9.4 million for Corbett School District, according to the OSBA.

Also on Tuesday, voters approved a $6 million bond measure for a library expansion in Oregon City. In Canby, voters approved the use of more than $9 million to build a new library and civic center.

Construction industry leaders praised the Beaverton School District for its communication efforts leading up to the election. AGC contributed $20,000 to garner support, Rakowitz said.

“They really made the case that they had thought it all through,” he said. “We don’t just rush out there and give support. They made it clear they had really communicated with the voters and done the work.”

Work will begin in earnest to mobilize projects, said Maureen Wheeler, the district’s communications officer. Some critical repairs will begin this summer; they include a $3 million roof replacement at Sunset High School, a turf replacement at Aloha High School and security projects at various high schools.

Design work will begin immediately on the new high school as well as six other major construction projects – new middle and elementary schools and four school rebuilds. Other work will include bidding and scheduling projects by the end of the year, Wheeler said. The district plans to break ground on the new middle school and high school by May 2015.

“Obviously, this is May and a lot of summer work can’t occur because we need to get bidding and design work done,” Wheeler said. “We probably won’t see a whole lot of construction for at least a year on major construction projects.”

In summer or fall 2015, projects should start kicking in, said Steve Anderson, project executive for P&C Construction, which will bid on Beaverton projects. By 2017 and 2018, construction will be in full swing, he said.

“We did some work for them in … 2006,” he said. “We will definitely pursue the work.”

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The kid in the back of the classroom can’t hide anymore.

Schools in the Portland area and across the country are slowly moving away from traditional, rectangular-shaped classrooms with rows of desks and a chalkboard, according to local school officials.

Instead, L-shaped classroom “pods” are being built with movable tables and transparent walls that provide views into common spaces, inspiring more collaboration.

These designs are now the “standard” for schools in the metro area and will soon become more common as Portland Public Schools and other local districts begin to replace their older structures, said Jim Owens, director of capital operations for PPS.

“Across the world, there’s been a huge amount of effort to figure out what kind of environment is best for students to learn in,” he said. “Many districts in the region have concluded that they want to have a lot of collaborative learning spaces and classes.”

Most of Portland’s schools were built in the early to mid-20th century. Many have a “double-loaded corridor” design with large hallways linking to box-shaped classrooms.

But Rosa Parks Elementary, built in 2006 and designed by , features pods of four to six classrooms. Their L shapes encourage smaller group activity, said Dan Hess, an associate principal at DOWA.

“Once you change from something completely rectangular to something that has two different components, it lends itself more spatially,” he said. “It’s not a traditional classroom situation necessarily anymore where you show up today and you go through verbs and adverbs and … have a quiz on it tomorrow.”

Curriculums are more project-oriented now, Hess said, wherein students examine problems, research them and create projects that incorporate multiple disciplines.

The pod design caters to this new model by inspiring collaboration via common areas. Glass walls separating these areas let students and teachers look in on the creative process. Movable tables and chairs in the classrooms are conducive to collaboration, Hess added.

A similar layout, designed by DOWA, is planned for a new building for Parkrose Elementary School. Several schools in Beaverton and Sherwood recently received renovations that incorporate this design, and three schools in Ridgefield, Wash., will follow suit.

“This design feature is only a real benefit if teachers and curriculums take advantage of it,” said Chris Linn, a principal at , which used the design for a new school in Vernonia. “When used effectively, these collaborative learning spaces provide a great venue for … large-scale experimentation and increased opportunities for socialization.”

Most of the schools in Oregon that have adopted this design are elementary and middle schools. Students at those levels typically stay in one classroom with one teacher most of the day.

High school classes tend to be more subject-based and not overlap, so the pod design may not be as advantageous.

However, with the recent passage of the $482 million school bond, PPS is looking into whether high schools in the area should be designed this way. Recently, the district hired DOWA to conduct a comprehensive study on how PPS schools should be designed in the future. Next spring, the study will be released as a guide for infrastructure projects, including the three high schools named in the bond.

Collaborative spaces will be recommended in the study, Owens said.

“Because this bond is targeting three of our nine high schools, that’s really going to be a front-and-center topic,” he said. “You want the opportunity to be able to refigure in many ways and to have collaborative spaces outside the classrooms.”

Construction does not cost more for a pod-design school than for a traditional school, Hess said; hallways in a double-loaded corridor design simply are reconfigured as collaborative space.

However, using the design for a renovation of an older building can be costly, Hess added.

“It may not be feasible given the existing layout of the building and the project,” he said. “It’s a big deal to take a school that’s a double-loaded corridor and transform it into this sort of arrangement – it’s almost a complete reform.”

Meanwhile, some educators worry that students will be distracted by activities taking place on the other side of a glass wall. But Hess said that when educators see how the design can lead to success, they understand.

“The kids can rise to the challenge and respond favorably in these kinds of spaces,” he said. “(The design) visually supports that everything is connected in the school.”

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The Ridgefield (Wash.) School District’s plan for multiple infrastructure projects is on track, Superintendent Art Edgerly said.

“The reason why we’re over budget right now is the typical process of having schematic design,” he said. “We are very confident that we will be on budget and also on time for this project.”

Preliminary designs were released this week for the three major construction efforts: a new multipurpose facility at Ridgefield High School, and additions at South Ridge Elementary School and the Union Ridge Elementary/View Ridge Middle School campus.

The district is figuring out ways to use less expensive building materials without sacrificing quality.

“There’s nothing cheap in the sense of lacking quality,” said Casey Wyckoff, a principal of Vancouver, Wash.-based , which is handling project design. “From a design process perspective, we are working to maximize the benefit of the budget.”

Money for the work is coming from a $47 million construction bond passed in February. District voters previously hadn’t approved a school construction bond since 1991.

The main objective is to improve facilities – both in quality and in function, Edgerly said. He referred primarily to new classrooms: the high school will gain eight, while the elementary school and the Union Ridge/View Ridge campus each will gain 10 to 12.

These classrooms will be designed to inspire collaboration, Wyckoff said, with glass walls and common areas. The days of box-shaped classrooms and single, wooden desks are over, he said.

“These classrooms are being designed to recognize that the future success of students is not necessarily going to look like what a classroom looks like today,” he said. “Each of the classrooms provides opportunities where students can do more hands-on activities with each other.”

Many students in the district work in portable pods that are in disrepair, Edgerly said.

“Those classrooms are being built because we need to move out students into a better learning environment,” he said. “We really (looked at) what our educational programs are and what we would like to offer our students.”

Each project will include a new kitchen facility so that more meals can be offered. Additionally, the multipurpose facility at Ridgefield High School will include a gym. Eventually, the district plans to convert the high school into a middle school and build a new high school on the property across the street; this project will not be funded by the bond.

Designs are based on school surroundings – the addition to the Union Ridge/View Ridge campus, for example, is more traditional and intended to blend with the area’s historic buildings, Wyckoff said.

The district and LSW presently are determining which materials should be used. When the district announced that it was slightly over budget, rumors spread that cheap building materials would be used to compensate for the financial gap. These rumors are far from the truth, Edgerly said.

“We’re not going to do anything that compromises the quality of the … buildings,” he said. “(The materials are) less expensive, but they’re not cheaper.”

Likely materials are school standards, Wyckoff said: brick, concrete and metal.

“It really comes down to what is going to provide the district low, long-term maintenance and operational costs and what’s going to be durable in terms of use by the kids and community,” Wyckoff said.

Outside of the three main projects, the plan also calls for adjusting traffic flow and improving Ridgefield High School’s stadium by expanding its football field and replacing its track.

Construction of the stadium project will start first, possibly as soon as May. Other projects are expected to begin next summer and finish by fall 2014. Woodburn-based Triplett Wellman will be the general contractor.

Triplett Wellman was awarded the contract based on a competitive bid process, which involved rating firms on a 1,000-point scale. Triplett won because it had the most efficient and cost-effective proposal, according to district officials.

“(These projects) will give (the schools) life and provide an opportunity for the district to … bring people to the Ridgefield community,” Edgerly said.

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