New high school building should be ready by Aug. 1

The fine arts wing of the new Central High School is complete, and the rest of the building isn't far behind.

The floor in the junior varsity gym recently got a fresh coat of wax, the seats for the bleachers in the varsity gym are going in, the orange paint is going up and the carpet for the library is ready to be laid.

School opens Sept. 3 for classes, but Cape Girardeau schools superintendent Mark Bowles said the building should be ready for the district to move into by Aug. 1 -- 14 days earlier than originally expected.

"Formally the date is still Aug. 15, but we think we'll be able to take over the building earlier than that," Bowles said. "Kiefner and Ittner have really come together to put us this far ahead of schedule. It's amazing."

Bowles said the district wanted to fill all the school with new furniture, but because of cost it was only able to purchase new desks for students. The desks are scheduled to arrive July 8.

When students step inside the L-shaped, $20 million facility, one of the first things they will notice is all of the natural light.

Just inside the main entrance, at the confluence of the academic and athletic wings, is a large, circular skylight about 15 feet in diameter.

Every exterior and interior classroom in the academic wing has access to natural light, either directly from an outside window or via a window at the top of the library.

The interior classrooms surround the library and contain a row of small windows that overlook the library. Skylights at the top of the library allow outside light to flow through the library and into the interior classrooms.

The art and science classrooms have windows that jut out into a triangle on the front of the building, and in the cafeteria the wall facing Silver Springs Road and Interstate 55 is windows from ceiling to floor.

Coffee and cappuccino

The hub of the academic side is the three-story, rectangular Barnes & Noble-style library, compete with coffee and cappuccino. The entrance to the library, which is only a few steps from the administrative offices, will be surrounded on each side with trophy cases.

Inside, students will be able to do research, homework or just take a break under the large cafe-style lanterns.

Surrounding the library are two floors of classrooms.

The lower level will house the majority of the language and art classes and labs and the upper level will have classrooms and labs for social studies, mathematics and several types of sciences.

Every classroom in the building will be connected to the Internet, but business and technology classes will be held across the parking lot at the Career and Technology Center.

Near the confluence of the academic and athletic wings are the administrative offices and cafeteria.

Since the campus will no longer be open during lunch periods, all students will have to eat in the cafeteria or on a large outdoor patio which overlooks Silver Springs Road and Interstate 55.

Italian food to burgers

A variety of food styles will be offered each day ranging from country cooking to Italian to burgers and fries. Bowles said lunch prices will increase slightly to accommodate for higher food prices and more students.

"We are going from feeding about half of 900 students to feeding the majority of 1,200," he said.

The athletic side of the building contains two gyms, locker rooms, coaching offices and the fine arts classrooms.

The only work left to be done in the junior varsity gym is to finish putting the seats on the bleachers. When it is done, the gym will have a 500-person capacity.

The varsity gym, located just across the orange-colored hall Bowles calls Tiger Alley, will fit about 1,800 spectators.

Bowles said the varsity gym is about two-thirds the size of the gym at the old high school, but it won't be a problem because they rarely filled it with spectators.

On the other side of the junior varsity gym are the health and fine arts classrooms. A large acoustic band room is connected to a smaller vocal choir room by way of a hall with six individual practice rooms and a few teacher workrooms.

Besides the look of the building, students will notice one major difference in the way the building feels. Air conditioning will greet students as they enter the school on hot days in September and May.

Bowles said the district will hold a dedication for the building on Sept. 15. He said a time and details have not yet been worked out, but they will be announced to the public as the day nears.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128