The signs of construction are everywhere at Woodland Elementary School, at 38203 Henry Drive in Zephyrhills.
The beeping sounds of equipment backing up fill the air, as crews from Wharton-Smith Inc. Construction Group move about, working on a new building that’s going up on campus.
The 25,274-square-foot building includes eight classrooms, a music room, an art room, a stage, a cafeteria and a kitchen, said Andrew Simpson, project coordinator for Pasco County Schools.
Architectural plans by Furr & Wegman indicate a cafeteria designed for about 376, which will be used for school lunches, and will have a stage for school performances.
The $12 million project also includes remodeling work.
The old cafeteria and kitchen will be converted into four new classrooms and a science, technology, engineering and mathematics lab, Simpson said.
“It already has the plumbing. It already has the drains. It already has the electrical capacity,” he added, during a recent walk-through at the construction site.
Beyond the new building, other differences that parents, students and staff may immediately notice are the new entrance that the school will have when it opens for the fall 2018-19 school year, as well as new signs, a longer car rider loop and a larger administrative suite.
Restrooms are being updated, too.
Work on the new building will be completed by July, Simpson said.
The remodeling work will be done before classes begin in the fall of 2018, he added.
A quick look around the current campus reveals scores of portable classrooms — a sure sign that Woodland’s enrollment exceeds its capacity.
Built in 1976, the school was designed for 652 students. Its enrollment now stands at around 950 students, but it has exceeded 1,000 in recent years.
“This school is severely over capacity,” Simpson said. “That was a lot of the reason that the school board decided that we needed to try to add capacity.”
With the additions, the school’s new permanent capacity will be 900 students.
The new building will add 176 student stations and the renovation will yield 72 more, according to Furr & Wegman’s plans.
The project also calls for enlarging the administrative area, while shrinking the space devoted to the school’s media center.
With the advent of digital technology that can be used in classrooms, the media center is not being used the same way it used to be, Simpson said. So, a portion of the media center will be converted into space for the new administration suite.
Work has been proceeding well, without any major surprises, Simpson said.
Hurricane Irma slowed down the project, but that time has been made up, he added.
“The labor is our biggest challenge. There’s so much going on,” he said, noting a billion-dollar renovation project at Tampa International Airport “is eating up labor.”
Published November 1, 2017
