Summer Wonder: DJDS' Renovation Plans Unveiled 

A planned renovation of the fifties wing of the lower division is set for summer 2024. The renovations include a state-of-the-art teaching wall, new ceilings, and completely new furniture. 

The fifties wing is located at the west end of the lower division and is also referred to as the west wing. “It looks old and not so nice,” said Avi Halzel, head of school and CEO. 

Remodeling the wing was not always the plan. “The master plan for the campus was that we would take down the 50’s wing and rebuild it towards the playground,” Halzel said.

Arapahoe County informed the school that they would need to fix or rebuild the west wing before making any new changes to the school due to the absence of up-to-date fire alarms, cooling, and heating systems.

When the school had to fix the roofing of the west wing they thought of a new plan.  “The reason we decided not to take it down and remodel… it is because it [the roof] was leaking… so we had to replace the roof so we had to invest several hundred thousand dollars into that building,” Halzel said. 

The current lunchroom will become a multipurpose room. Students will either eat outside or in their classrooms depending on the weather. 

According to Halzel, the building is being designed by RB+B architects, who built the JCC in Boulder, and France Bitten contract company. A DJDS building committee traveled to Boulder in 2023 to view the JCC building in order to decide whether the school would use the same architects. 

The building will begin and end in summer 2024. “They call it a summer wonder… schools want it done over the summer so you don’t interrupt school,” Halzel said.

DJDS Director of Advancement, Krista Boscoe along with other Cochairs are currently helping raise money for three phases. The first phase was teacher endowment, the second phase is the renovation of the west wing, and the third phase is the new cafeteria and auditorium. 

If the renovation does not happen in time, then the school will put a tent up and may resort to using the gym and will most likely share classrooms.

“The Maker space and the wood shop, is not going to be a woodshop anymore, it is going to be a third-grade classroom,” Halzel said. “The current third grade will probably be an open space.” This will ultimately lead to bringing the third-grade classes together.

The woodshop will shift to the first floor of the 80’s wing. The school will take down the music room and the art room, take down at least some of that wall to make a bigger space, and then the woodshop would go in some of that space. 

West wing updates require approval, which has yet to be made. Every construction project needs to get approved by the county. The school needs to get the west wing approved and once it is, they will send in the second plan. 

Subsequently, shop class could be postponed for a month or two at the beginning of the school year. However, once done the shop will include better ventilation and more class consistency with regards to location.

“I am kind of excited because I think it is going to allow us to have a more permanent location,” said Jake Cohen, a DJDS sophomore in shop class.