Mead School District plans to begin work in mid-May on a big, $21.5 million renovation and expansion of Mead High School, at 302 W. Hastings north of Spokane.


A general contractor hasnt been selected for the project yet, but construction bids are expected to be sought early next month and opened by mid-April, says John Dormaier, director of facilities and planning for the district.


As part of the project, a 20,000-square-foot addition will be built onto the current 212,000-square-foot high school. The addition would house music facilities and an auditorium, which will have a stage, staging area, and dressing rooms, Dormaier says.


The project also will include gutting the interior of the school building and completely renovating it. Dormaier says the high school will have a new floor plan at the end of the project. Also, each classroom in the building will be wired with fiber-optic cable, and the computers in each classroom will have connections both to the Internet and to computers in other classrooms throughout the school district, he says.


After the project has been completed, Mead High School will have the same number of general and special classrooms and the same types of amenities as at Mount Spokane High School, a new Mead district high school that opened in the fall of 1997, Dormaier says.


Students will continue to occupy Mead High throughout the project. Dormaier says the work will proceed in phases throughout the building. As each area is renovated, students will be moved from that section to other areas in the building or into portable classrooms that will be brought onto the high school campus.


Separately, Mead School District expects to complete a $1.4 million upgrade and expansion of Mead High Schools athletic fields, track, and tennis courts. That project, which began last year, is expected to be completed later this year.


Both projects are being funded with proceeds from a $25 million bond issue approved by Mead district voters in March 1998, Dormaier says. He says the district also hopes that it will receive $9.5 million from the state to put toward the high school renovation and expansion project. The district will find out whether it will receive the state funds this July.


Northwest Architectural Co., of Spokane, designed both the high school renovation and expansion, as well as the schools athletic field upgrade and expansion.