Here, construction crews continue working on the outside of the new Lockwood high school on Wednesday morning March 4, 2020, almost one year since groundbreaking of the new school started. The construction office sits below. Equipment started digging in the ground one year ago on March 18, 2019 and the first concrete pour was on March 25, 2019. (Jonathan McNiven Photo)
It’s been almost exactly a year since construction began on the Lockwood High School.
It’s been a busy year with the project being tackled from numerous angles. On some days there were as many as 200 workers scattered across the Lockwood campus working inside and out on every aspect of the new school. Currently, with most construction restricted to interior work there is probably about 100 workers on site every day, said Lockwood School Superintendent Tobin Novasio, who finds it hard to believe that “it has only been a year.”Designed by Collaborative Design, the $49.9 million high school is being constructed by Langlas Construction and dozens, if not hundreds of subcontractors. Breaking the construction challenge into smaller projects allowed for more opportunity for contractors to be able to handle them and for more work to be on going at the same time, which would help meet the very tight time frame.
“Langlas has done an amazing job at juggling those folks so it doesn’t bottleneck,” marveled Novasio.
Everything about building Lockwood High School has been on a tight schedule. Collaborative Design was pressed to put together a preliminary design and cost estimates to get the project on the ballot in the spring of 2018 — a goal achieved and a celebrated election won.
The push was on to get the CTE building – to be called the Don Reed Center – built in time to be used by the first freshman class this year – another goal met.
To complete the rest of construction in a year and a half is another challenge that is looking good as it passes the one-year mark. “Construct is right on pace where we want things,” said Novasio, “and it is pretty stunning how much it looks like the architects’ renderings.” Most of the classrooms are completed with sheet rock and painting, with electrical wiring on going.
Good weather in the spring will be important as crews begin moving outside to continue work on the stadium, softball field and parking lots.
Because of the community involvement and planning – “which was huge,” said Novasio, “I believe we will have the best facility in the entire area if not the state.”
Parents have been most understanding and patient as they have had to negotiate around construction and deal with changing traffic flows, commended Novasio.
Hiring as many as 20 new teachers for next year, when the second high school class enters the new school, is the challenge being dealt with at the present by Lockwood administration. The community and the new school are big enticements to applicants, said Novasio, which is helping in the goal “to get the best staff we can hired. We want to keep the quality of education at Lockwood as high as possible.”
