Maple Grove renovations made over the last four years are coming to a close as part of the capital facilities project. Renovations include a new gymnasium, new entrances, new classrooms, remodeled hallways and a fitness center, among other additions. P-J photos by Jordan W. Patterson

Renovation plans that began in early 2013 are finally coming to a close at Maple Grove Middle High School.

A new gymnasium, a new science wing and an expanded parking lot are among several of the renovations the capital facilities project brought to Maple Grove.

“When we started planning the project we were looking at taking care of the things that we had to do,” Michael Mansfield, Bemus Point Superintendent said.

Among goals in the project were taking care of asbestos problems, roofing and renovations to the bus garage. The renovations that cost $16.5 million was broken down into two propositions. Proposition one was to be primarily focused on issues that “needed to be fixed.”

With this proposition, the approval and installation had no effect on the tax levy in the Bemus Point School District. However, on the second proposition that tax levy was estimated to increase by 2.8 percent. The district voted to approve both projects.

Bemus Point will be refunded 69 cents on every dollar spent by New York state. The final price isn’t easily calculated because there is still interest and other expenses that still have to be considered.

In the bus garage, a new lift was brought in, as well as new doors and creating more open space with new offices. Included in the bus garage renovation was replacing the water treatment below the garage that pumped to the elementary school.

The parking lot was expanded and a bus loop was installed to avoid a “hectic” situation created by the crammed parking spaces. A new parent-student drop off was developed out back and the entrances to the building have all been modernize as well as the new entrance into the gymnasium.

“The board (of education) will be working on policies and procedures for opening that to the community during non school hours,” Mansfield said.

This will include times before and after school hours and potentially during the weekends. Mansfield said this was a way to give back to the community and also helped pass the propositions in the first place.

While most of renovations and additions are finished, there are few thing left to complete. Included in that list is finishing the multipurpose room and the fitness center that have been built where the old gymnasium used to be. The future fitness center will be open to the public and offer memberships.

Other renovations included widening the lockers for students so to fit more books and remodeling the hallways to give students a different feel. The old blue tiles were replaced for a white hallway with a red and black color scheme. The color way was left to the student body and they voted on the new look for the hallway.

Mansfield said that over the course of this project, technology and curriculum has advanced along with it. Grades second through 12th now have whats called the 1 to 1 program where ever student in that grade range was issued their own Chromebook laptop.

Maple Grove is also now offering “blended” online courses for high school students. These course are taken online but also include guidance from Maple Grove teachers during the school day. Some the classes are college level courses that are being offered through Jamestown Community College and others are advanced placement level courses.

“Now you can give students more flexibility to take courses they really want,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield was pleased with how the project turned out.

“Its been a long haul and I, personally, have learned a great deal about projects,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield was optimistic the final additions to the project will be officially complete by the Thanksgiving. He said that students are excited to experience the “newness” of the school.

“It gives (the students) a real sense that we’re pushing for them,” Mansfield said.