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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARRIS BILINGUAL ELEM. SCHOOL EXPANSION - SITE PLAN ADVISORY REVIEW - 6-01 - MEDIA -Obituaries/2 State/3 Comics/5 FYI/6 Thursday, September 20, 2001 City editor: Kevin Duggan, 224-7744 Local ♦ Fort Collins Coloradoan Tour makes Harris kids part of process Rich Abrahamson/The Coloradoai THIS BIG! John Sinnett of Fort Collins -based Sinnett Builders answers mentary School on Tuesday. Officials expect the construction to be fin students' questions about the expansion project at Harris Bilingual Ele- fished by the start of the 2002 school year. Empty spaces hold future dreams Students explore building project By STACY NICK StacyNick@coloradoan.com With a hard hat on her head, 9-year-old Anna Her- nandez got to experience life as a construction worker. "Ow," Hernandez said af- ter being tapped on the head with a chunk of concrete. It didn't really hurt, the Harris Bilingual Elementary School fourth -grader said, but it would have if she hadn't been wearing the hard hat. That's exactly why con- struction manager John Sin - nett used her as an example, tapping her on the head to show the need for hard hats and other safety gear on construction sites. Sinnett led Harris students on a general tour of the school's construction site this week and explained the tools being used to convert the empty space they stood on into a new gymnasium. The school has been un- der massive renovation since May, when classes at the school ended early for the summer so crews could be- gin working on 10 new class- rooms and a new cafeteria/ gymnasium. The project, which is being contracted by Sinnett Builders, won't be completed until next sum- mer. It's good to let the stu- dents be part of the process, Principal Larry Slocum said of the tour. It gives them ownership of the school. Hernandez agreed. "All summer, I told my mom that I wanted to go to school to see (what was be- ing done)," she said. But the tour also was done to cure students' cu- riosity about the site and re- mind them it is a dangerous place for anyone, Sinnett said. Even those who are trained in construction work have to be careful. Usually, the area is fenced off and students are not al- lowed onto the site, he said. But on a day when things were relatively quiet on th site, students were allowe past the fences. The crew were pouring concrete i some of the new classroom; but the main area was clear The students gaspe when they learned just hoi much their new classroom and gymnasium/cafeteri were going to cost. "Six thousand dollars, one boy guessed. "Nin thousand dollars," shoute another. "Nope," Sirmett told th children, "$4,050,000." In the spring, student again will get to wal through the site so they ca. witness the changes tha have taken place, Sinnet said. Originally, school offi cials were hoping to crest an observation area wher students could watch th workers throughout th year, Slocum said. Howeve a lack of available safe spac made that impossible.