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Renovation of Woodside in the Lapeer Community School calls for the convertion of the building into a middle school.

At the LCS Board of Education's Thursday work session, Superintendent Debbie Thompson announced there is much interest in the project by contractors. "The pre-bid meeting had 100 people show up," she said. The pre-bid meeting took place April 15.

The district is going full steam ahead with the project. A district official said bids will be opened April 23. The board will review the bids and is expected to take action at the next regular meeting, May 8.

If all goes as planned construction is tentatively expected to begin June 16.

The project's construction is being managed by Barton Malow.

The convertion calls for the school's current gymnasium to be remodeled into a cafeteria.

The convertion followed the passage of the May 2007 2.2-mill bond issue that equated to $56.7 million in funding available for LCS to create two 6-8 grade middle schools. That will be accompanied by renovating and building additions to Woodside School on Davison Road and Zemmer Junior High School on Oregon Road.

In the LCS, currently sixth-grade students are in elementary school buildings, seventh-grade students attend Zemmer Junior High School for one year, and eighth-grade students are in the high schools.

After renovations, plans call for Woodside to accommodate 700-900 students. The building's administrative offices and media center will be in the middle of the building.

Each grade level will be housed in wings. The sixth-grade will be located in the existing west wing and will include construction of new hallway corridors.

The new Woodside will include three common areas including one to be located between the new gymnasium and the cafeteria.

According to the LCS Web site, attendance areas for the middle schools have not yet been established. The district plans on completing the Woodside site first before Zemmer.

At the last few LCS board meetings, elected officials have remarked how excited they are by the middle school convertion at Woodside. They felt it was definitely a move for the future.

Jennifer Decker can be reached at 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com.

Editor Jeffrey Hogan contributed to this article.