FORKS — Architects began asking Forks High School teachers and staff this week what they need in the new high school when it is built next year.

The architects, BRLB of Seattle, created the schematic drawing of the new high school — estimated to cost up to $18 million — that was approved by the Quillayute Valley School board in October.

They are expected to compile information gleaned from faculty and staff by the end of the month.

Those details will be added to a final project plan that will go out to bid next year, said Quillayute Valley School District Superintendent Diana Reaume.

“Now we are in the detail-planning stage, where we are getting into all the things the teachers need,” Reaume said.

Construction is expected to begin after June 2010. The facility is expected to be completed by fall 2011.

Voters in the Quillayute Valley School District approved an $11 million construction bond in February for the high school. District officials also expect to get about $7 million in state funding.

The portion of the campus built this decade will be retained, but all other portions — those built in 1925, 1957 and 1962 — will be replaced.

Some portions of the school that will be replaced are not being used now because of safety issues, Reaume said.

Two alternatives

Bids will be requested for two alternatives.

One will be only the cost of construction of replacing the crumbling portions of the building, and connecting all the buildings on the campus except for the career and technical education building, which will stand apart.

The other will include a grand entryway, using the historical facade of the 1925 building, Reaume said.

Estimates of keeping the facade range from $100,000 to $250,000.

The architects’ drawings depict a free-standing portion of the facade, reinforced and with additional brick to make it more substantial.

The School Board will decide which alternative to pursue once the bids are in, Reaume said.

If keeping the historical facade means doing away with such necessities as a science lab, for example, then the School Board will have a hard decision.

“If it is taking too much away from the students, they could then decide not to do it,” Reaume said.

“But we promised voters when we went out for the bond that we would do the absolute best to maintain the integrity of the history of the building, so this is what we would like to do.”

Biomass boiler

Heat for the new high school, as well as Forks Middle School, will be provided by a biomass boiler, which uses wood chips for fuel.

The innovative design has been built at only one other school in the state. The Forks High School biomass project received a $1 million grant from the state Legislature.

The $1.66 million contract to construct the biomass boiler has been awarded to JH Kelly LLC, of Longview.

“We will be breaking ground very soon,” Reaume said.

The biomass boiler will include an educational component with informational boards with information about the history of logging in Forks as well as how the boiler works.

“Everything in the school is designed with an educational component,” she said.

High school modernized

Drawings show the new high school building in dark brick like that now used in the facade, but in a more modernized style, with the historical facade arching over the entrance.

“The idea would be to be something like the columns in Greece, an entry to the campus,” Reaume said.

Sidewalks are depicted weaving around the campus, mimicking the winding rivers of the area.

“Of course, Forks is named for the forks in the rivers so we tried to bring that in as well,” Reaume said.

Water drainage will be funneled into cisterns which will provide gray water — or outside rainwater — for flushing toilets and other such uses as a means of conservation, Reaume said.

The tax rate set by the bond that will fund construction is about $1.18 per $1,000 assessed valuation. That means the owner of a $200,000 home will pay an additional $236 annually in property taxes.

Before voters approved it in February, a bond proposal had failed in November 2008. Then voters also had the option of another bond to support building a new sports stadium.

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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.