Panco Construction Inc., of Spokane, has been awarded a nearly $5 million contract to expand two elementary schools near Sandpoint, Idaho, for the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

The work includes additions at Kootenai Elementary School, in Kootenai, Idaho, and Sagle Elementary School, in Sagle, Idaho. The base bid for the work at Kootenai Elementary is $3.9 million, and it's $1.1 million for the work at Sagle Elementary. The town of Kootenai is about 4 miles northeast of Sandpoint, and Sagle is about 7 miles south of Sandpoint.

About 26,000 square feet of space will be added to Kootenai Elementary, which currently has 13,000 square feet of space, says Lisa Hals, business manager for the school district.

The added space will give the school 11 more classrooms, as well as administrative offices. Currently, administrative functions are housed in space originally constructed for a kitchen. The project will make that space functional as a kitchen, Hals says.

Part of the expanded space will be a gymnasium, which also will be available for public use, she says.

"It was a school that was literally never completed," she says.

The school is going to be built for a student capacity of 500, she says. It has 146 students, but the community has grown a lot, she says. Work on the project already has started, and it's expected to be completed by April 2010.

At Sagle Elementary, about 6,000 square feet of space will be added to the 28,500-square-foot school building. The additional space will house four more classrooms and a restroom, she says.

The new space will bring the school, which has 361 students, up to a 400-student capacity, she says. That work also is under way, and is expected to be completed in October.

Funding for both projects will come from a property-tax levy approved by voters in May 2008. The construction estimate for the work was $6 million, Hals says.

Architects West Inc., of Spokane, was the architect for the additions at both schools, she says.

In addition to Sagle and Kootenai, the school district serves Sandpoint, Cocolalla, Hope, Ponderay, and Clark Fork, Idaho.