New Maplewood school will have separate parent and bus traffic loops

MENASHA – The public got its first look at the new intermediate school to be built on the Menasha Joint School District’s Maplewood Middle School property.

At a meeting Monday night, representatives from Miron Construction and EUA shared renderings and other design details with the school board. The presentation provided details of the exterior and an interior floor plan.

The school is being rebuilt after voters approved a $99.7 million referendum last November. Classrooms in the existing Maplewood school are small and many of them don't have any windows or natural light sources. The building also can't support flexible learning environments often used in today's teaching.

Here’s a closer look at the design for the new Maplewood so far.

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Two schools in one building

The new school will house grades five through eight, which is about 1,000 students. The current school houses only grades six through eight.

The north end of the building will be divided into two clusters: one for students in fifth and sixth grades and another for seventh and eighth graders. Students will stay in their grade’s designated “neighborhood.”

The south end of the building will have shared amenities including the gym, fitness center and library.

The gym will have curtains, so it can be divided into three distinct areas for multiple groups to use it at one time. There will be large gathering areas, including flex cafes with equipment to be educational spaces as well as areas to serve lunch.

Collaboration corridors throughout the academic areas will have classrooms with glass sliding walls that open up into a large collaboration area and small group instruction rooms for four to five students.

Maplewood Intermediate School May 2023 Update by Post-Crescent on Scribd

A façade that provides more natural light for students

The exterior of the new Maplewood will include blue and gray metal panels, red brick and plenty of large windows for natural light.

Renderings of the exterior are on pages 11 through 13 of the included PDF.

Outside athletic spaces grouped together

In the northeast corner of the property, there will be a turf football field and space for two asphalt basketball courts, all surrounded by a running loop. It won’t be a regulation track, but it will provide space for the track team to practice.

All of the outdoor athletic and play spaces are grouped together so staff or other supervisors can see all the students.

There will be two parking lots, traffic loops to separate buses and parents

The new school will have two separate traffic loops — one for parents and the public and the other for staff and buses. Each loop will also have its own parking lot.

Parents dropping off students can enter from Midway Road and loop along the east side of the property. Room will exist to queue around the athletic space, to prevent cars lining up on Midway.

It will be a two-lane loop so parents can enter and exit from Midway simultaneously.

Buses and staff will use the west entrance, which will have a similar loop. The parking lots will be built on the site of the existing school.

An aerial view of the property including the two traffic loops and parking lots can be seen on page 10 of the PDF.

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What will happen to the current Maplewood Middle School?

The current school will be demolished. The new school will be built on the land that sits behind it.

What is the total cost of the project?

The project costs $99.7 million. That includes construction of a new school, demolition of the existing Maplewood building, site work, a geothermal heating and cooling system, furniture, fixtures, professional services, required permitting fees and contingency.

So far, the project is still on budget. The next budget check will be in August.

What’s the timeline?

Design should wrap up at the end of July. Construction should begin in the spring of 2024 and wrap up by August 2025.

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Reach AnnMarie Hilton at ahilton@gannett.com or 920-370-8045. Follow her on Twitter at @hilton_annmarie.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Menasha school district shares details of new Maplewood school