By Amy Bounds Camera Staff Writer: Boulder Daily Camera
What: Casey Middle School
open house
When: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: 1301 High St., Boulder
The first thing students will see as they stream into Casey Middle School's new building on the first day of school later this month is an open commons area designed as the school's hub.
Directly ahead, a new library. To the left, counseling and administrative offices that have staff members gushing over all the space. To the right, a three-story classroom wing plus a shiny gym, state-of-the-art 350-seat auditorium and spacious art and band rooms.
Throughout, there's streaming daylight, views of the foothills and pieces of the old gym floor used in benches and along walls. The design also preserves a piece of the 1924 building's history, using the west and south building facades as the back wall of the library.
"I can't wait to see the kids in here," said Boulder Valley School District project manager Lou Novak.
The new Casey will be officially unveiled at an open house Thursday.
The $33 million rebuild of the central Boulder school is part of a $296.8 million bond issue approved by Boulder Valley voters in 2006. The Boulder City Council also gave the district $1.8 million, which comes from an education excise tax levied on residential development, for green upgrades to the design plan.
Casey students and teachers were moved to Platt Middle School during construction. Demolition of the old building started in January 2009. Construction started in March 2009 and finished earlier this summer.
Casey teacher Val Wheeler called the new building "a huge gift to the whole city, and especially the students and community of Casey."
As a teacher who spends most of the day in her classroom, she said she appreciates the natural light and good views. She also likes all the details, like pieces of the old gym floor, that keep it from being "a cookie-cutter piece."
"It has just a little funkiness left over from the old Casey," she said.
Principal Alison Boggs said the best feature is "everywhere you stand, you can see outside."
She and other school district officials also hope the district's investment in the building will help convince more families to enroll their students at Casey.
Enrollment for the fall is expected to be between 375 and 400 students. The school, which is designed for 600 students, also is expecting its biggest sixth-grade class in years, with about 175 students.
The main shortcomings of the old building were small learning spaces that didn't support the middle school curriculum, accessibility issues and a foundation on expansive soils, members of Casey's design team said.
The new building creates classroom wings for each grade level that include a mini-commons area, lockers and teacher workspace. One safety feature is interior doors at the entrance that can be locked during the school day, requiring parents and other visitors to sign in at the main office to gain access to the rest of the school.
Other highlights include more staff parking -- located underneath the gym -- and a separate entrance to the auditorium and gym so both can be used for community events without opening the whole school.
Designed as an environmental showcase, the school is going for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification. The certification level is expected to be announced in October.
"Green" elements of the school include a geothermal heating and cooling system, energy-efficient appliances in the kitchen, solar panels and "solatubes" that direct light into classrooms. A section of roof is covered with plants to reduce the "heat island" effect of development.
Automated classroom lights also adjust based on the level of light in each classroom, while slanted ceilings direct outside light deeper into each room. There's even a food pulper in the kitchen, which compresses food waste that will then be composted. The pulper replaces garbage disposals.
Casey Middle
School's new building by the numbers
106,458 -- total building square feet
20,000 -- how many more square feet in the new
building than the old one
8.4 acres -- size of the site
134 -- number of "solatubes" used to light the
building
34 -- number of classrooms
43 percent -- total estimated water reduction
using "green" fixtures
54 percent -- total estimated energy reduction
$26.7 million -- construction cost
$33 million -- total cost for project