"Aggressive" schedule will be used for Decorah High School and John Cline School renovations

Decorah School Board members met Monday night with representatives of Struxture Architects to discuss a timeline for school renovations approved by school district voters.

Architect Nicholas Hildebrandt says his firm has already met with members of the Decorah High School faculty to get their input on designs.  He hopes to bring back preliminary designs to the school board around Thanksgiving.

If all goes well, the school board would open bids on the renovation in late April of 2011.  Construction could then begin in June of next year.

Hildebrandt agreed that there would be "a lot of unforeseens" in the project, as there would be in any such renovation project.  Construction would begin first on the vocational education addition to the high school, followed by construction of a new gym and new locker rooms.  Renovation of existing classrooms would occur later.  Renovations at John Cline School would probably begin later than those at Decorah High School and might be bid out separately.

The entire construction project is expected to take three years.