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Architects Show Park City Board Of Ed All The Options

MHTN-PCSD

 
The Board of Education launched a master planning process in the fall of 2018 to determine what the future of education should be in Park City. Community input has guided the process and as of last week, the architects unveiled detailed plans to the school board.

After 18 months of stakeholder meetings, MHTN Architects was hired in January to take the master plan to the next level by showing what campuses and learning centers would look like under these new guidelines.

The master plan defined three major initiatives: Ninth grade moves into the high school, realign sixth through eighth grade into one school and bring pre-k programs into the four neighborhood elementary schools.

Business Administrator Todd Hauber says all the elementary schools would have four additional classrooms dedicated for pre-k classrooms.  The district currently offers limited access to pre-k enrollment. In addition to universal pre-k offerings, the master plan calls for a before and after school service for elementary students.

“Two of the elementary [schools] would have the dedicated Pre-K space. Two of the schools would have the pre-K space plus the wrap around services. Put drawings out there for what would Mcpolin look like with the wrap around services, that includes pre-K.  And then they also showed a drawing for Jeremy Ranch that would have that pre-K space with the wrap around services as well."

The architects showed two options for Ecker Hill Middle School, both would move the current cafeteria and gym and build more CTE and maker space. They presented two design options for Ecker Hill. Instead of two middle schools, they recommend one school for grades six through eight which would be located at the existing site.

“Different, is two different build-outs to add the additional space for the additional grade that would come over to Ecker, so the eighth grade leaving Treasure and coming over to Ecker.”

The decision to move ninth grade back to the high school was made more than five years ago by a prior board of education. The 2015 bond measure to remodel and expand the high school failed at the ballot box.

Option A leaves the Eccles Center in-tact with a redesign and high school expansion eastward on the school grounds. The current McPolin site would be turned into playing fields and it would move to the Treasure Mountain Junior High location. This plan would increase parking stalls from 734 to 935. Hauber says this option would require changes to traffic circulation throughout the entire campus.

“I believe the second one is actually a re-design of the space where Eccles is now but still has that expansion to the east, but it redesigns the classrooms to be more linear with the rest of the building. And the Eccles sits just behind those classrooms. So, each part of the high school redesign along Kearns Avenue could include the additional spaces needed for the 9th graders.”

Option B would relocate the Eccles Theater, add onto the existing high school, tear down Treasure Mountain and replace with fields and tennis courts. Mcpolin would remain in the same location and include an addition to the south.

Option C would replace the high school in phases over the next 15 or 20 years. The architects were asked to consider a 25-year plan when designing a reimagined Kearns campus.

Both Options B and C would move parking behind the high school and to the east of McPolin. The number of parking stalls would be 775.

The school board meets on April 21. With the uncertainties of the coronavirus spread, Hauber doesn’t know the financial impacts yet. He says they hope to have cost estimates for the proposals either by April’s meeting or shortly after.

You can find a link to the drawings on KPCW.org

  
 

KPCW reporter Carolyn Murray covers Summit and Wasatch County School Districts. She also reports on wildlife and environmental stories, along with breaking news. Carolyn has been in town since the mid ‘80s and raised two daughters in Park City.
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