<I>DAMIAN MULINIX PHOTO</I><BR>A back hoe is seen plowing away at a northern portion of Hilltop School, through the elderly windows of the building. Construction on what will be the new middle school will begin most likely next month.

ILWACO – Since school ended in early June and Hilltop School closed its door as an elementary for the last time, there have been some noticeable changes in the facility.

Gone is the library, one of the most recent additions to the school, as well as one the oldest, the locker room building which housed music classes. Also gone is the “stair building,” which housed two staircases connecting the first and second level of the school on the east side, and the old boiler room.

While the school, built originally in 1936, has seen its share of time as home to a variety of grade levels, this new facelift will usher in its days as the Peninsula’s new middle school.

Tearing down to build back upWhile demolishing those buildings, the contractor found an interesting, yet locally typical, discovery underneath – sand, and lots of it.

“About three to six feet deep was sand,” said construction manager for the Ocean Beach School District Russ McElroy last week. “As long as it was contained by the outer foundation walls it was fine for fill. But as soon as we had to break into that wall it just flowed like sand out of an hour glass.”

McElroy said part of the plan is to even out some of the many layers on which the school sits, especially at the top of the hill, which will be the site for new construction of the administrative office and gym for the school.

“It’ll be lowered and raised both,” he said. “The library slab will stay in place and have a layer of fill over it and will be part of the courtyard area. And where the administration building will be built [the ground] will be raised up a little bit. But there will be a slope coming down.”

The classrooms have been cleaned out, with things like fixtures and cabinets having been already removed, leaving behind a trail of wood chips and debris. Asbestos abatement work, currently taking place on the bottom floor, includes the removal of pipe wrapping and Wainscot materials on the corridor walls.

“It’s fairly significant,” said McElroy. “They went into an attic off the kitchen and there’s a fair amount of piping and loose material in there that had to be abated, as well as in the attic space above here [the second floor of the classroom wing].”

One interesting find, left behind and not scheduled to be saved, is a large mural made by the students some years ago that adorns a wall on the second floor. The mural depicts the area and discoverers finding it in a pristine fashion. McElroy said he is lobbying the district to save the mural, which is made up of a few pieces and is only attached to the wall with screws.

“Fortunately, the contractor looked at it and thought it might be of some value so they didn’t just rip them down,” McElroy said. “I think even if the district doesn’t want them, there’d be some interest somewhere in the community.”

The majority of demolition work to be done on the inside of the classroom buildings that will remain from the old school is being held up by the abatement work. McElroy said some of the demolition in the classrooms will take place once new construction starts.

And that day should be coming along soon, as the district will be opening the bids received for the Hilltop job in two weeks.

“We had three general contractors at the walk-through yesterday and I’ve had indications from three or four more that they will be coming to next week’s walk-through,” said McElroy, who explained that this is a way for the district to get a feel for the interest by contractors. “You just never know what the interest will be until it’s bid day. We hope for a good showing.”

McElroy said that R.B. and G Construction, LLC., who is the contractor on the elementary school jobs, has shown an good deal of interest in Hilltop as well, which would be an easy transition since they will still be here working on Long Beach School through December.

“The district has a very good relationship with them,” said McElroy. “All things being equal, if they were to be the low bidder on it, I think the district would have no problem with that.”

Hilltop School is roughly twice the size of either of the elementary schools, and the district is projecting the project to be completed in time for the opening of school next year. This may cause an interesting balancing act.

“It will mean a bit larger crews to accomplish the work. Probably close to the amount of people that were on the other projects combined,” McElroy said.

Hilltop Auditorium “It appears to me, being an outsider and all, that there’s a lot of community interest in the buildings,” said McElroy during a tour of the Hilltop Auditorium. He said that the school district is sticking with their promise to allow groups like the Water Music Festival and the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial to use the facility for programs, despite the fact that the school is closed. He said that while he’s been told that the bicentennial folks were indeed planning on using the theater, the Water Music Festival was not.

“We’ll be maintaining water and power to the building. Any heating will have to be of a temporary nature,” he said.

When told that there wasn’t much in the way of heating in there before, McElroy said with a laugh, “Well, Lewis and Clark lived pretty much in unmoderated temperatures when they were here too.”

Parking at the facility, however, is another inconvenience. While the rest of the school is under construction, any parking for such events would have to be at the high school, with a shuttle bringing people back and forth. This is the main reason the Water Music Festival decided to seek out other arrangements for this year.

According to festival president Dick Brown, the concerts that would normally be held at Hilltop will be moved instead to the Peninsula Baptist Church in Ocean Park. He said the move was to provide a more “satisfying venue or better ambiance,” particularly for people who are elderly, and have been coming for a long time.

“To be fighting the obstacles of parking at the high school, and who knows what else, we decided that the move would be best for us this year,” he said.

Brown said that the church offers comparable seating capacity and ample parking. Brown said that the offer by the district to allow the use of the theater was a generous one.

“They’ve been more than helpful, in fact they’ve gone overboard to accommodate us,” he said.