Face Lift Underway For Ashland And Superior Schools

Students at public schools in Ashland and Superior will be heading back to some updated classrooms and facilities this fall. The districts are beginning to see the result of multi-million dollar construction projects.

Voters in Ashland and Superior approved referendums for both schools in April last year. Ashland passed a $34 million referendum to improve district facilities and Superior approved $92.5 million to update school buildings. Superior School District Administrator Janna Stevens said the projects are coming along.

“We had smaller projects at all of our elementary schools. We did some things with roofs (and) some things with parking lots. All of them have advanced security as you come in, to be a more secure environment,” she said. “All of those things have gone very well.”

She added work at Cooper Elementary is ahead of schedule in Billings Park.

“The building looks fantastic, but more importantly it’ll be more structurally sound than our current Cooper,” she said. “That won’t open until next fall, but again we’re ahead of schedule.”

Stevens said construction at Superior High School is a little behind schedule.

“When you have a structure and you’re trying to take down part of a structure and replace and remodel different areas, what you find is that when you take down a wall, you find some things behind the wall that you didn’t think would be there,” she said.

She said teachers may be shocked by how barren the classrooms are because of construction, but the high school is set to be completed by fall of next year.

Ashland Schools Update Classrooms

Ashland School District will be opening its doors a week late for the high school this year because of construction. Ashland Schools Superintendent Keith Hilts said teachers and staff are eager to move into their classrooms.

“The offices just opened up this week. We moved the furniture into the teachers’ classrooms this week and so the teachers are able to first get into their classrooms on Monday,” he said. “Which is a-typical. Many times teachers are in many days in the summer just reviewing work from last year and getting ready for the upcoming year.”

Hilts said the most important part of the referendum was to create renewed learning spaces.

“We moved the library more into the center of the building (and) eliminated a hallway. We raised the roof of the library and put windows around the top. Instead of having hallways between the library and the classrooms, we put the classrooms immediately on the same wall just outside of the library,” he explained. “Then, (we) put clear story windows along the top wall of the classrooms, which brings light from this newly opened library right into those interior classrooms.”

He said the classrooms will be ready for students on Sept. 11. The library is expected to be finished around Christmas. Hilts added construction of a field house and new commons will be ready for students in March.

The Ashland School District is set to renovate the high school auditorium and art rooms along with the middle school starting next summer. The district will hold an open house with the architect on Sept. 7 from 4 to 7 p.m.