Hermosa School is on track for completion

Students at Hermosa School are expected to move into new classrooms for the 2021-22 school year as construction on the new $12.8 million school building moves along at a rapid pace.
Phase 1 of the 61,000- square-foot facility located to the south and west of the existing Pre-K-8 school is on track to be completed by late July or early August, giving teachers and staff several weeks to move grades Pre-K-1 and 5-8 into the new building. Grades 2-4 will use classrooms in the original school.
Architect Jeremy Altman of design firm Architects Inc. of Rapid City gave a tour of the new building recently and described some of its features. Starting on the south side near the new main entrance of the complex, attendees walked around to the west playground door which has access to the stairway leading to the second level.
The brick outer skin of the building is nearly complete and work will begin soon on silver vertical steel panels that will complete the outer covering and which replaces the bright purple and green of the weather wrap used over the structural walls of the building. (Altman said some people driving by thought those would be the final colors.)
Passing through the new playground area, attendees went through a temporary door and up a wide stairway to the upper level which will be occupied by the upper grades. In this spacious area, the classrooms surround an open area known as a learning commons.
“That gives the teachers a lot of flexibility,” explained Altman, adding the open space could be used for a small group to prepare for a classroom presentation or for large group activities.
On this level there are two classrooms each for grades 5-8 plus a special education room, a small conference room for private meetings (for instance between parents and teachers), a separate middle school science classroom and a fifth grade science room. There is also an exit leading to Main Street/ Hwy. 40 which Altman said will be used as an entrance by some students walking to school from that direction.
Moving toward the stairway on the opposite end, attendees passed the elevator shaft, then proceeded to the ground floor.
This level will house Pre-K through first grade students and, at the request of teachers, each room has its own restroom. The layout is similar to upstairs in that there is a learning commons in the middle.
Moving toward the reception and office area attendees passed the early childhood area strategically placed near the entrance for the convenience of dropping off and picking up young children.
Everyone visiting the school will have to enter through the reception area. Windows in the new principal’s office on the corner by the entrance will give her a view of the area where students are being dropped off in the morning. Next door is office space for a possible future assistant principal. In this area there will also be a nurse’s office with its own shower, a guidance office with a separate entrance from the hallway for student meetings, a fire-rated room for files, a time-out room and an office for the school resource officer. At the east end of this area is a teacher workroom with a keyed entrance off the hallway and a separate teachers lounge area with a kitchenette, restroom and a mothers room for nursing and other needs.
Phase 2 of the project, among other things, will create a second gymnasium, a new library and a music room with higher ceilings for proper acoustics. That project will commence at the end of the school year in May and will require moving the existing playground equipment, a shed and the double-wide annex building which will be moved to Custer to create extra space for the jr./sr. high.
Weather permitting, Phase 2 is hoped to be ready for occupancy by the first of the year 2022.
Altman said the ongoing construction will continue to impact how and where students are dropped off and picked up, but school officials say parents have been understanding and there haven’t been any major problems with that this past year.
“It has been a great year for construction,” said Altman. “They couldn’t have asked for better winter weather, really.”
An added benefit for Hermosa students this year has been the opportunity to learn something about commercial construction first- hand. They have been given regular tours of the facility by construction manager Dean Kurtz Construction as the project has progressed and they reportedly have greatly enjoyed them.