PORTAGE | Moving the two remaining high school classes out of Willowcreek Middle School -- nearly three decades after all the others relocated to the campus on U.S. 6 -- could be a little more complicated than originally thought.
Portage Township School Board members and administrators are considering a plan that would move the vocational classes to a new facility and replace their space in the Willowcreek building with a sixth-grade academy. Superintendent Mike Berta said after an initial meeting with architects from Indianapolis-based Gibraltar Design, three sites for the new structure were identified, each of which presents a few challenges.
"We looked at potentially locating this building south of our current bus maintenance garage," Berta said. "The problem is we have a practice football field in that location."
Berta said an area just north of the Airport Road fuel facility the school corporation shares with other municipal entities proved particularly problematic.
"It was the least desirable, just because if we would need to modify that complex, having a building right there would be an obstacle," he said.
An area north of the transportation department offices near Lute Road is also under consideration. Berta said Gibraltar will look at each potential site and provide School Board members with more information and possible drawings by October.
After considering a number of plans to alleviate overcrowding at the district's two middle schools, administrators and board members have focused their attentions on a plan proposed by Willowcreek Principal Michelle Stewart that uses existing space, rather than the construction of a third middle school.
Stewart's plan would relocate sixth-grade English, social studies, math and science classes to the northwest side of the Willowcreek building, where high school auto mechanics and building trades classes are currently housed. In her proposal, Stewart said the move would provide sixth-graders with their own wing, just as students at Fegely Middle School have, while also giving the seventh- and eighth-grade classes room to grow.
Should a new vocational facility ultimately be built, board member Tom Pappas said it should take into account some of the course offerings that have a lot of interest, but not enough space, namely a new firefighter and emergency medical technician training program scheduled to be housed at Hobart High School.
Once the drawings are complete, Berta said, the district's financial advisors will calculate the project's projected cost and detail what it will mean to the average homeowner's property tax bill.
