Continuing the work of last year, construction on the Aragon campus will resume on May 29, and is expected to continue through the summer until Aug. 12. The planned projects for this semester are to renovate the baseball field, add new wall paneling on the lower level, renumber rooms, renovate the staffulty room, add lighting for the pool and repaint parts of the campus.
The construction will limit access to campus over the summer, affecting teachers and Leadership groups.
“Teachers who want to be in over the summer to clean up their classroom [or work on the] curriculum for next year won’t have access until just before school starts,” said assistant principal Andrew Hartig. “[It will] definitely affect our Leadership program and Link Crew [since] they do all sorts of planning and organization. In terms of our ability to use our facility, we’re going to be limited to use of the theater, softball field [and football field].”
[It will] definitely affect our Leadership program and Link Crew [since] they do all sorts of planning and organization
Finishing off construction projects from last year, encapsulation of the wood paneling on the outer walls of the gym will be completed. The transite panels around the school are made of a cement and asbestos mixture. Asbestos is a carcinogen which, if inhaled, can cause cancer. Encapsulation is a cheaper alternative to a full panel replacement that protects the panels from damage that might release the carcinogen. All of the panels on the upper level were encapsulated last summer, and the lower level will be completed this summer. The encapsulation project will also take place at Mills and Hillsdale.
“As our schools age, the question has been, are the panels still in good shape, are they releasing asbestos fibers and particulate matter into the air and [are] our staff and students breathing that?” said Principal Valerie Arbizu. “Our district passed a bond measure with all of our voters and agreed to pay to raise [money]. Part of that money is being spent on the baseball projects and part of it is being spent on the encapsulation here.”
Since weather and condition of the field has made maintenance of the current grass challenging, the baseball field will be updated this summer.
“For the baseball field, they will dig up all of the grass to bring in new turf [which is] going to take until December,” Arbizu said. “That will be a full new turf baseball field with a practice field attached to it and lights. So [sports like] soccer can use it to start practicing when football is finished.”
Members of the baseball team are excited about this renovation.
I’m excited for the new pool lighting because it allows us to swim both early in the morning and late at night
“It’s really bad having natural grass since it’s hard to keep up with and it’s slanted,” said junior baseball player Josh Geller. “Turf is leveled and even. Night games will be more fun [with the new lighting] and it will allow for more practice time.”
The pool area is also receiving new lighting for sports like swimming and water polo, which have late night matches and practices. These adjustments to sport practice areas will limit summer practices and may possibly delay practice time in the gym for fall sports. Despite this, many still look forward to the change.
“I’m excited for the new pool lighting because it allows us to swim both early in the morning and late at night,” said freshman swim team member Emerson Makuta. “Currently, the pool lighting is dim, [and] adding more lighting helps us see the walls underwater and even wake us up for morning practice.”
Campus will also be renumbering repeating room numbers and will add more directing signage on campus, as well as adding additional lighting.
“[The tennis courts will] have shade structures, picnic benches and some other benches so people can be out there during baseball or watch tennis a bit better,” Arbizu said. “We’ll have some additional seating areas right outside the E and D Hall for teachers as well.”
With new improvements to sport areas on campus, athletic director Steve Sell hopes to continue renovations in the future for less impacted sports.
“The only sport that hasn’t had any improvements to the[ir] facilities is golf since they are off site,” Sell said. “I would eventually like to have some place on this campus where golfers can practice so they don’t have to go off campus, so that’s something I’m pitching for in our construction meetings.”
With Aragon under development once again, teachers, summer sports and programs will have to adjust to the construction.
