Is the high school campus large enough to accommodate two more grades? What about traffic, etc.?

Yes, there is enough room on the campus for additions to serve grades 9 and 10. It will require more classrooms, a new and larger cafeteria/commons, and widening part of Shawnee Avenue to provide for a good and safe flow of traffic.

Classrooms and Cafeteria/Commons

The high school campus has very few unused classrooms at this time. The bond funds would build additional classrooms to serve sophomores by adding science labs on the north end of the campus, linked to the existing science labs, and many more classrooms south of the stadium above a new expanded cafeteria/commons area. The cafeteria would be large enough to serve the 10-12 grade students, many of whom would still take advantage of off-campus lunch, and would serve 9th graders on a separate lunch period. A freshman academy of academic classrooms would be constructed just north of the Bruin Field House and would connect to the rest of the campus so that students in grades 9-12 have access to the shared cafeteria, fine arts, and gymnasium areas. The project would add sufficient classroom space to serve all students without increasing student loads in existing rooms.

Campus Layout

The layout of the additions mostly fills in lawn and some parking lot space along and to the east of the existing connecting link. Aesthetically it will improve the appearance of the east side of the long campus and provide an attractive set of entrances, one for freshmen entering the freshman academy and another for students in grades 10-12 entering the new cafeteria/commons. New chillers will be placed near the southeast corner of the Bruin Field House. The overall layout preserves the lawn area west of the campus along Hillcrest Drive.

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Traffic

A traffic study was commissioned to measure existing traffic loads and patterns at both the Mid-High and High School to determine what changes would be needed to accommodate having grades 9-12 at the High School. Shawnee Avenue would be widened to the west, becoming three lanes from the existing tennis court parking lot south to 18th Street. This, along with a circular drop-off drive to be built east of the freshman academy, will accommodate parents who elect to drop off and pick up students, particularly freshmen since the existing circular drop-off drive in front of the historic main entrance over on Hillcrest Drive will still be available for grades 10-12. All of the north side of 18th Street would be used for buses.