Nelson ready for construction to finally begin on new high school

Superintendent of schools reflects on highs, lows of delayed building project

"The prize at the end of this is the kids of the valley will have what they deserve," Carl Nelson, superintendent of schools, said, taking time out of another day filled with meetings to reflect on the new school project and discuss some of the highs and lows along the way.Despite long days Nelson still has a passion for education and when you ask about the $46 million new high school, career and technical center, and the renovation of the existing building into a middle school, it brings a smile to his face."We're ready for the next phase, more of the fun stuff, if you will," he said. "The fact we now have most of the legal stuff the purchase and sales, the closing, the planning board approving the subdivision, and the water issues behind us, is a good feeling. Those were some pretty big hurdles, but I'm sure there will be others. As we get into the actual construction, we'll probably find more, but we'll tackle them one at a time and move forward. We've seen what the potential issues might be on the site and think they're all pretty minor."Last week, Nelson and members of the building committee reviewed a preliminary schematic design of the new high school, to be built in Redstone and slated to open in the fall of 2007. He likes what he sees so far. "We've got a real good portion of the design done," he said. "Ninety-five percent of the square footage planning is done. We're a little over in square footage at this time (maybe around 10,000 square feet), but we feel confident we can tweak the plan and make things work... The design is very good. We will have a functional, economically-sound school when everything is done."Nelson said he's been "impressed" with Lee Kennedy Company, the project manager hired by the district last winter. "They've been excellent to work with and I think you'll hear that from all of the committee members on down," he said. "The same thing can be said for are architect Dave Lauren and Banwell have been exceptional... Credit also has to go to the design team and the staff, who have all done a great job. We've had a lot of good input along the way. Our staff is excited about the direction we're going, I think everyone should be."At the moment Nelson believes the project is on budget. "Lee Kennedy gives us a budget, looks at materials and then advises us," he said. "We have a pretty good idea of where we stand, and in some cases, if we need to look at other design materials we will. What we do know is prices have risen in the building trades over the past two years. Just look at the price of gasoline to ship things. Concrete and steel prices have gone up to the point where we need to look at all of our options."With so many meetings, it might be easy to skip a few, but Nelson enjoys watching the project unfold. "We can't get tired yet," he said with a grin. "The people in this office are outstanding and more than willing to help. If not for the support staff we wouldn't get done what we have so far. I'm sure it's been very taxing on everyone, but they realize what it means and how much it means to so many."As for a highlight thus far, one quickly springs to mind for Nelson. "So far it has to be the fact that the eight towns have remained and we continue to function as a valley. I think we're all doing what's right and what's best for the kids."Last year all eight towns agreed to tuition contracts to the new high school and in some cases the middle school. Asked if he thought all eight towns would agree to the contract, Nelson said he was was hopeful, but not certain. "I'd like to say we had it all the way," he said, laughing. "Certainly there were days when I was concerned we wouldn't pull it all together. In my heart I always thought it would happen this way. I had been through a few future searches here and there and the overwhelming thing to come out of those was that we need to pool our resources and stay together. It's nice to see the right thing happen. Some people may see it a little differently, but to me this is the best way to educate the children of this valley."As for low points in the process, Nelson deals with those by hitting a few extra golf balls or making his runs a little longer. "I guess the low points have to be encountering unforeseen hurdles, like another potential archeological study... It's uplifting when you see people rally, like the voters of the North Conway Water Precinct, who want to see the school built. When you see that sort of support it brings you back up."Nelson admits he would have loved for the new high school to open in fall of 2006, but it will now definitely be the fall of 2007. "There were some issues, such as two archeological studies and it took time to get through the inter-municipal agreement with the water precinct. I'm not placing blame on anyone, we just didn't foresee it taking that long. While this project is taking shape, eyes from outside Mount Washington Valley are watching intently. "We've had people ask us to share information about our tuition contracts," Nelson said. "We've been asked how you pull a community together. The New Hampshire school administrators have asked us to do a presentation on the bond process. A number of people from different parts of the state want to tap into what we've done and want to know how to avoid the most trying times. I tell everyone we have a unique set of circumstances here, but we were able to pull it off."There have been concerns about the size of the school, which is being built for approximately 1,000 students. Enrollment this spring at Kennett High was approximately 975 students, but long term projections call for enrollment to decrease."The space is being designed for 82 to 85 percent utilization," Nelson said. "Right now Kennett is probably at 102 percent."Nelson said the state maximum for students in a classroom is presently 30 with a standard of one student per square foot or 30 students per 900 square foot classroom. The new high school has all its classrooms at 900 square feet or more while the current student projections per classroom is 21."It's not an ideal situation to have 30 students in a classroom," Nelson said, "but I think we've planned to accommodate any growth. The teacher work rooms (in the three story portion of the design) are all stacked so we could easily put an addition on there. Our enrollment projections of five or six years ago are holding true and we're actually leveling out in terms of growth.""We can't see into the future," he continued. "We don't know if there will be another national crisis such as 9-11 which forces people to move out of the cities to more rural areas like ours."With opening day of the new school about 1,100 days away, Nelson hasn't planned his opening day speech just yet. "I'll worry about that when we get a lot closer," he said, laughing. "We've got a lot more work ahead of us. My speech can wait, everyone knows it will be short anyway."