Swan River moves on to gym design phase

The Daily Inter Lake

Swan River School voters gave trustees approval on Nov. 2 to spend $867,000 for a new gymnasium addition to the school.

Now it's time to move on to the design phase.

The school board will host a community meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 16 in the school cafeteria.

School trustees will serve coffee and cookies, and hope for a big turnout from people interested in sharing their comments and learning more about the project.

The Gymnasium Committee, the architect and construction contractor will be on hand to answer questions and take suggestions.

A new gym will replace the current one that's housed in a Quonset-style structure attached to the east end of the school.

The new 6,400-square-foot addition adjacent to the present cafeteria will house a gym floor the size of Bigfork Middle School's gym, with a stage, music room, multipurpose room, locker rooms and public restrooms.

New bleachers will seat up to 324 people. When those bleachers are folded back to the wall, there will be room for two volleyball courts.

It opens up new opportunities to host home games and its higher ceiling will let the school hold volleyball practice and competition. It also should cut heating costs.

Ground breaking is projected for April 2005.