Renovations Set to Greet West Bloomfield Students

It's not winter, so in Michigan, it must be the season of construction.

Apart from the orange barrels and detours which have graced the intersection at Pontiac Trail and M-5 in Commerce this summer, more than $12 million in bonds were allocated for technology and construction improvements for schools within the .

The bonds were part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Changes at the High School

Since school dismissed in June, , like many other schools in the West Bloomfield district, has undergone major renovations. When the Lakers return for the 2011-12 school year they can expect many changes in extracurricular activities and in the classroom.

The energy management system that has been installed at WBHS, as well as other schools within the district, will follow the school board’s approved energy values, according to Pam Zajac, public relations and media coordinator for the district. For classrooms and large areas, the heat will not kick on until the temperature dips below 68 degrees and, as long as the temperature doesn’t exceed 74 degrees, the air conditioning won’t start cooling.

Zajac said that this new system has proven to be extremely effective in other buildings across the district with savings of 7.37 percent kilowatt hours between 2009 and 2010.

Air conditioning has also been installed in the gymnasium, weight room and aerobic room, which shows in the field of play. Second-year varsity volleyball coach Julian Wingo said that he expects an improvement in his team’s record from the 2009-10 season based in part on the players’ increased stamina in the cooler environment.

The tennis team has already begun practicing on the newly redone blue and white tennis courts. Athletic director Pat Watson said the old surface had cracks that would hinder the team’s ability to play well, often leading to the misplay of balls that were shot towards the athletes.

According to Watson, WBHS had previously been denied hosting league and state events by the Michigan High School Athletic Association because of the condition of the courts.  Watson hopes that these missed opportunities will change now that the courts are in good condition.

“Team morale is improved because the players are excited about playing on a proper surface,” Watson said.

The auditorium is boasting new paneling on the lower walls, brand new seats and is now equipped with ramps regulated by the Americans With Disabilities Act. The fly system that holds cables, stage mechanisms, and lighting for the auditorium had cracking outside the precast panels; it also had rusty clips, which were letting water in after storms, Zajac said. These outside panels were replaced with panels featuring a high R-Value, which measures thermal resistance.

Zajac said that almost all of the WBHS projects will be completed prior to the first day of the school year and that construction is on schedule. Deputy Superintendent for Business and Operations Thomas Goulding said that the auditorium will be done around the middle of September.

Money leftover

Goulding added that $888,500 would be leftover from the budget money allocated to pay for projects performed by the George Auch Company of Pontiac. That budget, which represents the majority of construction projects in the district, is $9,713,217, and the projected cost to finish is $8,824,717.

Goulding said that the positive variance must be spent by 2013 under Recovery Act guidelines. It is unknown what that money will be spent on.

Other noticable projects budgeted for and set to be completed this summer, according to Zajac:

Entire district

• Wifi capability in all school media centers
• 30 new Apple iPads in each building
• New computers with 22-inch monitors in every student lab

West Bloomfield High School

• 40 interactive white boards
• Renovations in three sets of multiple-stall bathrooms in instructional area
• New carpet and paint in 53 classrooms

• Replacement of two boilers with three smaller condensing boilers
• Re-modeling the small theatre with new paint, carpeting and chairs and building a platform for sound and lighting

• Renovation of two sets of multiple-stall bathrooms

• Resurfaced basketball court (as funded by a gift from the fifth grade class of 2011)

• Resurfaced parking lot
• Replacement of most of the roof
• New signage to indicate name change (as funded by private donors)

• New roof
• New exterior windows