School half open, half under construction

Buchanan Middle School relies on trailers while the campus receives much-needed renovations.

By RICK GERSHMAN
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 13, 2002

LUTZ -- Troublemakers cannot be called to the principal's office. But neither can anyone else, because there is no principal's office.

Ask Buchanan Middle School principal Dwight Raines where he works and he'll tell you: "There are four metal single-wide trailers behind the cafeteria. I'm in the third one back."

He's tucked in the structure's back end, behind a desk that spans much of the trailer's width. Raines has no choice; the administration office has been gutted, exiling its staff to eight trailers.

More than 800 of Buchanan's 1,230 students attend classes in another 48 trailers encamped behind the original school buildings. Raines, who schedules all new students, gives them a map to help them navigate the makeshift trailer park's seven rows.

The 41-year-old school at Bearss Avenue and North Boulevard is undergoing a $7.4-million renovation that will run at least through December. When it's done, Buchanan finally will have a gymnasium, but that is only one component.

Many existing buildings are being redone almost from scratch, with a few getting new roofs. Entire plumbing, heating and air conditioning systems are being replaced, along with electrical systems, data lines, the whole shebang.

The disheveled state of the grounds is the price of progress. Students are learning to adapt to the challenges of a makeshift campus.

"You're going to have a first-class facility when you're done, but it's going to be a little painful along the way," Raines said. "I've had to deal with construction at several schools, and you can (treat it as) a nightmare, or you can use it in a positive way. We're trying to get the students involved with what's going on here."

Don't close the lunchroom

The project, funded by the county's Community Investment Tax, is in the first of two phases. Half of Buchanan's campus is torn up. When that's done, they'll tear up the other side. The cafeteria remains in business until school gets out. School officials hope to knock it out over the summer, so students still have somewhere to eat when school reopens this fall.

A tall fence with padlocked doors -- Raines keeps the key -- bisects the campus, each area off limits to the other. Workers in hard hats dig trenches and move earth on one side; across the fence, students lug textbooks between classes.

Raines said he believes his administration has done a good job of running the school full-steam during the renovation project. Classes are clustered in adjacent portables to minimize travel and exposure to bad weather. That also helps younger students, who do not have lockers.

"Almost everyone who has attended school in Hillsborough County has had to deal with construction," he said. "I enjoy it because I see it as a learning process. . . . This is a big deal to (the students). It's like seeing your house be built."

Even if most of the work is finished by December, including the gymnasium, refinements could continue into spring 2003.

That matters to Tammy Cummings, president of the Buchanan PTSA. Her daughter Sharon, an eighth-grader, will move on to Gaither High this fall. Twins Amy and Beth are in seventh grade, so their time in the new and improved Buchanan will be limited.

"By the time my kids graduate, the school will be beautiful," Cummings said. "It's been a real headache, my two seventh-graders are no longer in the building, and the kids have had to go from portable to portable in the pouring rain and out in the cold. . . . And when they do the back of the school, that's a whole new nightmare.

"But it has gradually gotten better. I think the administration has done a good job with what they've had; there are a lot of things over which Dr. Raines doesn't have any control. The administration is all spread out and stretched thin."

Traffic issues

Though Buchanan's enrollment is at 124 percent of capacity, Cummings said she and her children genuinely like the school, which has received an A-plus grade. She would have preferred that the district "double up" Buchanan students with those on another campus rather than continue at the current site. Unfortunately, that is not a consideration with a student body so big.

"Ideally, you can move a school to another location," Raines said. "But we're huge as far as middle schools go. . . . And the only way to do that is to share a school, and then you're impacting other students, too."

Construction also has caused traffic issues. The school faces Bearss, and much of the pickup/dropoff area has been reduced by the construction fence. The school's resource officer, sheriff's Deputy Travis Valles, has implored parents not to stop on Bearss in the afternoon. Traffic sometimes backs up to Florida Avenue, almost a mile east of the school. Trinity Presbyterian Church, which sits catty-corner to the school, has helped out by letting parents park on its property.

Although much of the project's budget is going toward what Sutton calls "invisible work" -- necessary infrastructure upgrades hidden under floors and behind walls -- many needed cosmetic improvements also will be made.

The buildings show their age, from lockers and door closures covered in rust to faded, chipped paint on walls. They all get the heave-ho with the renovation. Toilets, showers, lighting, doors and window blinds will be replaced.

Buchanan will get a new closed-circuit television system, and a TV production area in the renovated media center. Fire alarm and intercom lines come in with a new electrical system. Wheelchair ramps and other systems will be added for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

Then there's the gym. It will span about 10,000 square feet with six motorized, retractable basketball goals, one on each end of the full-size court and two on each side. Motorized bleachers telescope out of the walls. Capacity is estimated at 840.

That part has been delayed while the county waits for an environmental permit: A portion of the area the gym will sit on is a landfill, Sutton said, so ground cannot be broken until enough studies ensure that it is safe to build there. She said the permit likely will be granted this month.

To minimize distractions, Sutton said, the school makes workers aware of testing schedules, and workers consult with the principal well in advance before shutting off water or electricity. Raines said the main priority is to keep the students safe, a consideration echoed by Sutton, who has three school-age children.

"Whenever I look at a project, I think of my children, and whether I would feel safe with them there," Sutton said. "You want to keep (the construction away from them) as much as possible."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright