Teachers, staff move into new Glacier Gateway building
Longtime school maintenance man Doug Dougherty moves equipment into the new school Monday.
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
Teachers, staff and crews from Swank Construction have been busy the past few days moving materials from the old Glacier Gateway School to the shiny new building.
Longtime kindergarten teacher Emily Erler said she won’t exactly miss the old school. She’s been teaching at Gateway for 15-1/2 years now and has been in the same classroom for 10 years.
On the cold days it’s cold and on the hot days the classroom is hot.
“It’s really hot or really cold,” she said, as she stuffed materials into boxes.
While the classrooms come with brand new furniture, she’s bringing her old yellow chair with wheels. It’s very useful for getting around the classroom.
Crews worked seven days a week to get the project completed by winter break, project manager Monte Moultray said.
Crews were still doing touch-up work on Monday. The school is super kid friendly, with short lockers, kid-sized toilets and numbers to let students know what hallways their classes are in.
Once the classrooms and equipment are moved, the next step in the project is to tear down the north wing of the old school.
The school will hold an online auction Jan. 17-24 to sell things like remaining lockers, old desks, doors and other fixtures.
Everything else will get demolished. The good furniture will be taken over to the new building.
Swank will then wrap up the parking lot and landscaping by summer. The new entrance to the building faces east.
Superintendent Dave Wick thanked the community, Swank and the board at last week’s school board meeting, noting that actual construction started just a year ago.
“It’s a beautiful building,” he said.
As for the old high school and the two gyms, developer Mick Ruis has agreed to purchase them from the school district. Covenants on the sale require Ruis to build senior/and or teacher housing in the structure.
Once completed, it should have more than 30 units. In addition, the gyms will remain for residents as well as Ruis’s wrestling academy.