With 2015 in full swing, many students are already beginning to think about what they will be doing later on in the year. Some will be heading off to college or into the workforce, and others will be back at FHS again this fall. However, Freedom has a lot of changes occurring within the district. The new elementary school that is in the works has caught the interest of many students.

Since construction began, the new elementary school being built on-campus with the high school and middle school, has been making progress. Scheduled to be at 42 percent completion, construction of the new school is behind schedule, reaching 40 percent completion. The other two percent they didn’t reach could likely be attributed to, as Mr. Scott Smith described it, “unforseen materials”, referring to unsuitable and unstable soil to build off for certain areas of the new school.

“We’re pretty much closed in. And then we’re going to get even quicker here and be closing it all in pretty quick. The windows will be going in here before long. The standing seam roof was delivered [Jan. 14], so things are moving along pretty well,” Gary E. Mortimer, Jr., the Director of Buildings and Grounds at FHS, said.

While the outside of the building can be seen whenever students pass it, what the inside of the building looks like remains a mystery to most.

“You can walk through, and the framing is already up for the classrooms on the first floor. You can actually see the classrooms, the hallways, the mechanical rooms and the bathrooms. You can see the plumbing,” Mortimer said.

With the new building being attached to the middle school, the flow of different students and grades has also come into question.

“Head Start, Kindergarten, first and second grade will be in the new building. The first wing in the middle school will end up being third and fourth, the second wing will be fifth and sixth, and the third wing will be seventh and eighth,” Mortimer said.

Many rumors concerning delayed progress have been filtering throughout the student body lately.

“At every board meeting they give a facilities update, and the project has been pretty consistently three percent behind. I’m not sure how much that translates to in terms of days or weeks, but it’s slightly behind, but they’re hoping that once everything’s under roof that they can start really making up some time because then you’re not really so much at the mercy of the weather,” Principal Mr. William Deal said.

On the subject of weather, Smith said to the school board that the construction crew would be taking advantage of Jan. 17’s slightly warmer weather by getting some work in.
Although the project is expected to be done sometime in Aug. 2015, some are still concerned with what will happen if the project is not completed in time.

“We don’t know yet. Until April, then we will have a much clearer idea of, “Okay where are we, where does it stand?” That’s when the school calendar officially gets set, so we’ll have a lot more answers then. But until then, pretty much all options are on the table, or off the table, you know however you look at it,” Deal said.

During the school board meeting on Jan. 17, it was revealed by Dr. Jeffrey Fuller, Freedom’s superintendent, that construction reached a point where tours could be given to members of the board.

“It was amazing. I was there [on Jan. 13] and it’s incredible,” School board member, Mr. Harry Gilarno, said.

By Feb.14, the construction crew expects to complete the metal standing seam roof and interior stud work on the first and second floors. They also plan to reach 85 percent completion on flat rubber roof areas. Focus is going to be placed on drywall soon, with working beginning with it in areas where the roofing is completed. All of the windows are expected to be completed as well.

Although much of the work on the new building is now occurring where it cannot be seen by the public eye, the work is still coming along. As the weather continues to get better the building will continue to approach completion.