Back New Central Valley High School is 'huge' and 'cool' By Marny Lombard When the new Central Valley High School opens and the seniors walk into the vast commons, many of those students will think back to their first –and quite different – glimpse of the building. A group of those future seniors, now sophomores, took a tour of the construction site this week. They left clearly agog about the building, which is rising due east of the existing CV High on Sullivan Road. "It’s so huge," exclaimed Colton Carruthers. "I think we’ll have the coolest school," said Jamie Whitman. Garco Construction, General Contractor for the project, is giving student tours for two reasons, explained Job Superintendent Jim Tortorici. "One is, it’s going to be your school,"he told the students. "And (we want) to encourage any of you who want to go into the building trades to give construction a serious look as a career. It can be a good trade." Tortorici took the kids, all from Jane Johnson’s sophomore French class, through the building from top to bottom. They got to peer into the orchestra pit, where two workers were running tools that look similar to a jackhammer, but are designed to compact soil. Students climbed to the second floor and clambered across the bare metal decking, past workers who were pouring concrete for what will become the floor of the library. They got a peek at the brick exterior, on the east wall of the gymnasium. Inside the huge gym (big enough for four full-size basketball courts), they stopped just where an accordion folding-wall will run, dividing the gym into two. Students peered at workers high up on a couple of scissor lifts, where they were installing parts of the fire sprinklers. "It’s so complicated, there are so many components," Whitman said after the tour. No tours are planned at the new University High School at 32nd and Pines. Students in computer-aided drafting and construction classes have toured the site. Sophomores who are interested can sign up to join a tour, said Principal Paul Sturm. The two new schools are expected to open in September 2002. Voters approved $78 million in bonds in 1998. The CV High School construction site is a busy, noisy place these days. About 100 workers are on site, four of them women. Power saws whine; a forklift chugs past; and concrete trucks keep their drums rolling, feeding fresh concrete to the second story. The southeast corner of the new school, where most science classrooms will be located, is just being prepped for its slab foundation to be poured. Pouring those slabs should be done in May, as will the placement of the steel beams and joists. The next major project will be the theater walls and concrete work; that work is due to start in about a month. When the students emerge from the gym, they check out the weight room and head for the local point of the school, the central, squarish commons. Although the south end of the commons and the roof are still mostly daylight, enough walls and beams are in place to give a sense of it. The kids tipped their heads back in the sun and took in the scope of the place. "There’ll be skylights up there. They’ll be 60 feet up," Tortorici said. "It’ll be cool." Central Valley School District officials say they’re pleased with the progress at both new schools. Both projects are within budget, said Mike Pearson, director of secondary education for the district. At the end of Tuesday morning’s tour, Tortorici showed students blueprints for the project and answered questions. "Is it hard to get people to go into the building trades?" asked Johnson, the teacher. "Yeah, it is. People think it’s a low paying dead-end job, but that’s not true," Tortorici said. He said experienced workers in Spokane make from $30,000 to $60,000, depending on how far they advance. "It’s a field with lots of opportunity." Back