Walker Construction Inc., of Spokane, has been awarded a contract for an estimated $10.4 million project to remodel and expand two schools in the Medical Lake School District, on the West Plains.

The project will involve in part the addition of about 40,000 square feet of space to Medical Lake Middle School, including a new gymnasium and 12 new classrooms, as well as upgrades to some of its current classroom space, says Don Johnson, the school district's finance director. The school is located at 1010 Lake Street, in Medical Lake.

Hallett Elementary School, located at 524 S. Hallett and one of the district's three elementary schools, will undergo an about 7,000-square-foot expansion that will add six new classrooms, he says.

Architects West Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, did the design work for the projects.

Currently, the middle school includes students in grades seven and eight, but after the addition of the new classrooms, it also will be able to accommodate the district's sixth-graders, who currently are taught at Hallett Elementary, along with grades four and five, he says.

After the sixth-graders move to the middle school and with the addition of the six new classrooms at Hallett, Johnson says that the elementary school will have enough space to house preschool through fifth grade. A large number of the district's preschool through third-grade students currently are being taught at Medical Lake Elementary School.

Once the Hallett Elementary expansion is done, the district plans to demolish Medical Lake Elementary, located at 250 S. Prentis, because that facility is outdated, Johnson says. That school, which was constructed in the 1950s, will be replaced with an athletic field, he says.

Besides the middle school, Hallett Elementary, and the elementary school that will be demolished, Medical Lake School District has a high school, an alternative high school, and another elementary school located at Fairchild Air Force Base, Johnson says.

No date has been set for construction to begin, but Johnson says the district hopes to be able to have the work completed by the time school starts next September. He says the schools will remain in operation during construction, which will include work on the additions during the school year and remodeling of current space during the summer.

"We will do what we can that doesn't affect the students in the classroom," Johnson says.

He says funding for the projects will come from a $15.6 million district bond measure passed in February of this year.