Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the High Schools topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Test-fit options for West and South Albany propose phased rebuilds; West plan would cut capacity but add athletics
Summary
Consultants presented test-fit scenarios for West and South Albany high schools showing options to right-size facilities, add athletic and CTE space, and phase work across bonds; one West option would reduce capacity from 2,000+ to about 1,300 in an early phase while keeping room for later phases.
Committee facilitators walked the group through test-fit sketches and enrollment forecasts for West and South Albany high schools, emphasizing these are program exercises to help set bond-phase priorities rather than final architectural plans.
For West Albany, presenters showed a phase-one option that would add roughly 15 classrooms, CTE labs and an athletic complex but remove older wings, resulting in an initial capacity near 1,300 compared with prior capacity figures above 2,000. Facilitators said the principal prioritized expanding wrestling from a two-mat to a three-mat room and enlarging the weight room, and that choices about whether to include athletics in phase one or delay them to a later phase are central to how much program the bond buys now versus later.
Presenters emphasized that capacity counts are programmatic estimates (for example, 33 students per general-education room) and that special programs such as life-skills classrooms have much smaller occupancies and require recalculation if included. They also noted demolition costs and site decisions (athletic fields versus parking) materially change project totals and that some demo numbers were not fully included in the preliminary test-fit totals.
For South Albany, two alternatives were discussed: one replaces smaller, outdated science and art buildings and requires temporary rehousing, the other keeps existing buildings longer but adds connectors and therefore incurs higher connector costs. Both options aim to modernize science labs and create classrooms sized appropriately for current programs.
Cost examples offered in discussion ranged from illustrative $32 million to higher figures for larger connector/rebuild options; facilitators said all figures remain preliminary and would be refined to include demo, inflation and site choices. The committee was reminded the planning target for a bond is about $170 million, and the committee’s choices on phase-one program will determine how much of that total is consumed by high-school work versus elementary work.
Next steps: test-fit cost assumptions (including demolition) will be revised and presented alongside elementary priorities at the next consolidated meeting.
