Schools
VIDEO: Tour the 'New' Urbandale Middle School
See what $12.8 million bought at the renovated Urbandale Middle School.
Crews are finishing more than a year of construction on . John Lees, Urbandale school district's supervisor of maintenance and construction, describes the transformation with numbers:
ADDED:
- A 1.5-acre outdoor nature classroom: Because the addition took some of the wetlands behind the school, the district enlarged the wetlands areas, creating three ponds and an outdoor classroom
- A second gym and a separate wrestling room
- An outdoor learning center
- An extra 68,000 square feet, expanding the capacity of the 1973 building from 600 to 900 students
- Tripled the area for the student commons, which serves as the lunchroom, among other things
- 26 new classrooms
- A separate wing for eighth-graders
- State-of-the art audio-visual and Internet projection equipment in classrooms
The renovations will end up costing $12.8 million, up from the $12.5 million budget because of unexpected work on the wetland behind the school, Lees said. Most will be finished by the end of this semester. However, workers must wait until next summer when students are out of the building to install terrazzo tiles in the commons area.