Coming home to manage construction for Highland schools
The student body population at Highland primary and middle schools was growing and needed more space.
The district knew for several years that they’d already exceeded capacity at the primary school and soon would do the same at the middle school.
On the south side of town, the primary school didn’t have room for the 600 three- to seven-year-olds. So, students and faculty had to travel to the elementary school buildings for elective classes like art, music and physical education.
And the middle school on the north side of town would soon be over capacity as well. They needed to make room for a growing special education program and large class of sixth graders.
“We had absolutely no extra space in our building,” said Middle School Principal Liz Weder. “In fact, we currently have one class that meets in the library for two periods of the day due to the lack of space.”
Finding the right partners for the project
A strategic planning committee was formed to meet with stakeholders and set a list of improvement priorities. “The top priority was to ensure the safety and security of our students,” Superintendent Mike Sutton said.
The district wanted to eliminate the safety risks associated with students traveling between buildings, through parking lots and driveways. But they also wanted more classrooms and a vocational area dedicated to high school transition prep.
The district was already working with long-term partner FGM Architects. When The Korte Company got involved a couple years ago, they were still debating with consulting engineers about whether to remodel the primary school or demolish it and build a new one. There were a lot of details to sort out and they needed an expert construction manager to help.
The Korte Company previously managed construction on projects at the middle and high school. Grounds Director Jeff Williams knew us well and looked forward to working with us again.
“From my experience working with Korte on the addition of our high school (1998) and the building of our middle school (2000), I had no reservation about insisting that we tackle similar projects with Korte at the lead again.”
The planning and collaboration begins
This was our first project working with Superintendent Mike Sutton, but he also came to share Jeff’s appreciation for The Korte Company process.
“The experience with Korte has been amazing,” he said. “District officials are updated weekly, or more if necessary, to ensure that we know down to the day exactly what aspects of construction are being completed.”
Unlike some construction managers, The Korte Company gets involved in every stage of the project, helping from design to delivery to ensure the customer always has help with many important decisions and they get exactly what they need.
Mike said, “They mediated any changes between FGM and contractors so that the timelines are not affected, and the project stays on budget.”
Jay Korte, Director of Client Relations, explained our philosophy on entering the job. “We were listening to their needs, helping that communication between the architect and the end user, making sure that they were hearing each other … And then we were also able to throw in our two cents worth with respect to construction costs, material availability, material lead times and constructability. And help make those decisions in a timely manner.”
The team started by touring the primary school and reviewing structural layouts with the engineers and architects. They soon decided that the current building needed to be entirely replaced with new construction. The middle school could stay, with a renovation and expansion.
Putting strategic planning into action
Together with the architects, we began plans for an 89,000-square foot institution for pre-K through second-grade students. The state-of-the-art facility is located just half a mile away from the current primary school.
The team also began work on the middle school expansion. It included the addition of nine classrooms: four fully equipped general education classrooms, two specialized science classrooms, two dedicated special education classrooms and a state-of-the-art vocational classroom to help prepare students for real-world challenges and future careers. The expansion also added two restrooms and 30 supplementary parking spaces.
Project Manager Heather Stewart said she loved seeing how enthusiastic the school representatives were to see the project take shape, knowing it would alleviate many logistical issues so students and staff can focus on learning.
Overcoming any challenge
The most challenging aspect of the middle school project was rerouting utilities around the footprint of the middle school addition. They had to closely coordinate and schedule the work to avoid major disruptions to school activities.
Kids needed to get dropped off, picked up. Classes needed to be held uninterrupted. Students and staff needed to be able to move safely throughout the facility and campus. But if we can complete a renovation in an active hospital, we can pull it off in a school.
“With school in session, everything had to be within the construction fence which was limited on space,” said Project Engineer Randy Rabe. “We spent a lot of extra time coordinating deliveries to not get them too early and take up space.”
It also took special planning to ensure the construction activities didn’t interrupt their education or create safety hazards. For one thing, we couldn’t risk students wandering onto the site. All the work had to be done behind a construction fence with limited workspace.
“Throughout the project any activity that would remotely impact the educational process was brought to my attention well in advance and every effort was made to minimize the impact,” Jeff said. “For example, shutting down the boilers and mitigating fumes from the roof insulation adhesives.”
The team took advantage of every field trip, professional development day and any other time that students weren’t in class. And fortunately, Liz said that all our efforts resulted in very minimal classroom disruptions.
If you need that kind of care, dedication and attention to detail on your next project, we’re ready to help. We build for multiple sectors with highly sensitive operations and facilities, from education to health care, distribution and more.
Seeing the fruits of our labors
Work at the middle school is now complete. Jeff also worked closely with Randy throughout the project. He was there every day, answering every question Jeff threw at him and ensuring everything ran smoothly.
“With this being my first project on the construction manager and superintendent side of things, I’m proud that it was delivered on time and under budget,” he said. “But Jeff was incredible to work with. He also was very understanding and patient. Even if he didn’t know the answer, he would quickly make calls to get it.”
The primary school is still under construction, but Heather loves seeing everyone making progress on the jobsite every day. She doesn’t get to appreciate such things on many of her out-of-town projects.
“There are so many fun and creative places to learn in this building,” Heather said. “For example: outdoor/indoor classrooms, library wall cutouts, animal wayfinding signage, the list goes on! Who knows, maybe I will have a grandchild go to school there.”
She also enjoyed getting daily project updates from an unofficial middle school field supervisor, her son.
“On a personal note, my son will benefit from the middle school addition, as he will have an Encore Class in the vocational room,” she said. “The vocational curriculum is anticipated to focus on agriculture and construction-related projects.”
With this kind of passion and purpose, it’s no wonder why school officials enjoy working with Heather. Mike said she has been outstanding in running efficient meetings and providing neatly presented updates to the school board.
“Never before have I experienced the level of documentation and communications,” Jeff said. “Throughout construction, as each phase is completed or milestone reached, I was contacted to make sure our objectives and intents were being realized.”
Why we love building for students
Every education project is incredibly important, and this one also has a special place in the hearts of people at The Korte Company. Many, like Jay, attended primary school in the old building. And now, their children will make memories in the new one.
“We have relatives that go to school there,” said Jay, whose wife worked at the primary school for many years. “Our spouses work there or have worked there, and we’re taxpayers. All of that is important to us.”
Jay remembers how much pride he used to take in the primary school that they’re replacing.
“I remember going to the old primary school that is being replaced now,” Jay said. “Whether they’re the first class attending or first class graduating from the new school, hopefully it’s something they can remember and take some civic pride in, too.”
In this spirit, we held beam-signing opportunities to commemorate the new facilities. Students who were too young to sign their names made handprints, as if their little hands will help support the building up for years to come.
The middle schoolers signed an exposed beam on site before it was put into place. And the primary school students signed a beam from the comfort of their playground, after it was brought over and unloaded from a truck.
Fostering the next generation of construction pros
The project also offered the students a special chance to learn about construction. Primary school students participated in Construction Week, during which they learned about the work happening around them.
“Hopefully some of the students that are watching us complete these projects end up entering the construction industry after college or trade school,” Randy said. “When I was in third grade, Carrollton demolished a large portion of the school and rebuilt. I spent countless hours at recesses watching the process and was very fascinated. After seeing the building complete, even at a young age, I knew it’s what I wanted to do as a career.”
Project Engineer Brianna Ratermann even joined the students in class for a day. Heather said she was happy to see how excited the kids were to see Brianna enter their classroom.
“I had the opportunity to do a book reading and Q&A session with a couple classes,” Brianna said. “It was joyful to see so many kids excited about their new school and show interest in construction.”
The kids even had their own ideas for the project, like installing a Skittles dispenser. Unfortunately, not all their ideas could be adopted.
We can’t wait for the first day of school
“I can’t imagine what this process would have looked like without the Korte team becoming part of the Highland CUSD No. 5 team,” Mike said.
Even if you aren’t located in our hometown, The Korte Company will bring the same care, dedication and collaboration to your next education construction project. Whether you need a designer, builder, construction manager or all the above.
