A new administration wing, a media library and a remodeled cafeteria are among the changes planned for Northwood High School, and renovations will continue even after the school reopens in the fall of 2004.
While officials are enthusiastic about the look of the campus-to-be, community members are anxious to ensure that the school system keeps its promises to make the facility as attractive as other schools in the Downcounty Consortium, in which students will choose among signature academic programs at Northwood, Wheaton, Kennedy, Einstein and Blair high schools starting in 2004.
Facilities for Northwood's academies -- government and public advocacy, environmental studies, technology and society and film and cultural arts -- are part of the changes to be made at the school.
The new campus will include a greenhouse for the environmental sciences program and a life-size mock courtroom for the public advocacy component, said principal Henry Johnson.
The changes will update the look of the 53-year-old building but will not increase the school's 1,600-student capacity, Johnson said.
Although Northwood High School closed in 1985, the school has since been used as a holding facility for various schools and is structurally sound, Johnson said.
"It's a very, very durable building," he said. "If you walk the hallways, [you see] it's not going to take a lot of renovations of the classrooms."
On Aug. 25, the Board of Education voted to approve preliminary plans for the Silver Spring building's renovation.
Although no new classrooms will be added during this renovation, the layout of the new campus has been designed to accommodate an expanded classroom wing if more space is eventually needed, said Richard Hawes, director of facilities management for the school system.
The new administration suite and library center are the most substantial changes proposed to the existing 226,632 square foot building. The addition of the administration wing will increase campus security, Johnson said. Visitors won't be able to enter the building without passing the main office, he said.
Construction will begin in July 2004 and is expected to take two years. The school will open at first with only a ninth-grade class, and will add a class every year. The limited number of students will allow construction to continue with minimal disruption during the school year, Johnson said.
Construction costs are budgeted at $13.2 million.
Johnson collaborated with a committee of parents, school system representatives and community members on the initial plans for the school's reopening. Dubbed the Northwood Facilities Committee, the group helped prioritize improvements to be made at the school.
Included in the plans are a list of "add alternates," a prioritized list of improvements that were not budgeted for in this expansion but that committee members want to see at Northwood.
Committee members "think there needs to be more [done at Northwood] to be competitive in the consortium," said Dennis Cross, project manager at Montgomery County Public Schools.
Space for the top three items on the add alternates list -- improvements in the science and technology labs and an expanded cafeteria -- have been included in the plans, Cross said. The other items, which include fix-it work like repainting, better toilets, energy-efficient windows and new acoustic ceiling tile, will be added as funds become available.
Committee members said that the add alternates were essential to Northwood's viability in the consortium.
"We have to make it an attractive facility for families to choose Northwood," said Sally Taber, a member of the Northwood Facilities Committee.
"I think the plans are going to go a long way towards doing that, but that's if everything else is done that we've been talking about."