The school bell will be accompanied by the grinding of heavy machinery this school year as students head to the classroom.

“The school staff worked really hard to make everything ready and safe for the kids,” said Project Manager Liz LeRoy of Alliance Construction Management in Seattle.

The commotion is due to the fact that the grounds of the Orcas School are in phase one of the renovation process, which is going full steam ahead thanks to voters’ approval of a bond of $11.9 million for a campus makeover. Voters also approved a two-year general technology capital projects levy that will pay for modernizing the school’s technology facilities.

Work by Tiger Construction began in June right after graduation.

“We wanted to take advantage of summer to complete the underground work and finish the demolition to minimize the  exposure to kids and prioritize safety,” said LeRoy.

Officials say some buildings are slated to be finished as soon as December. This initial phase includes work on building 200, the music and career technical education building.

Building 200, also known as the old library will be used as the new middle school with new classrooms, small group rooms and an office. This space is estimated to be to completed before Christmas. The musical addition will contain new storage, three practice rooms and a workroom. The CTE structure will get three classrooms, garage doors, a kiln room and storage space.

A permanent modular structure will be established behind the existing administration building and will be used as a temporary library for the year.

“The modular is for flexibility for future programs that the school wants to support,” said LeRoy.

In March, LeRoy told the Sounder that the school board was working to reduce the $7.5 million construction component of the bond by  a couple of hundred thousand dollars. LeRoy said changes were successfully made.

“We reduced the disturbed area and streamlined the phases to give the contractor easier access to the construction area,” she said.

Basically they kept all the same plans but re-framed their approach to these projects. For instance, there will no longer be any upgrades to the administration building. Another big change is that the contractor will have access to the school cafeteria for several months.

“Everyone will have to be creative about the way they use space,” LeRoy said.

To read about construction phases or for more info, visit www.islandssounder.com/news/246023261.html.