Rest assured, class of 2009.You will eat a meal in Commons before you graduate. This summer alone, Phillips Academy was busy with several construction projects, including the renovations of Commons and the Addison Gallery. The school has also increased the security presence on both of those sites, likely in response to threatening graffiti found on the wall of a construction site portable toilet last May. Despite the brief delays last year caused by the scare, Commons is still on schedule to open next spring. According to Michael Williams, Director of Facilities, the installation of equipment for the basement of Commons began over the summer. “Many, many tasks are complete or underway,” Williams wrote in an email. “The Ryley Room is taking shape. Upstairs both new serveries are in place and the vent hoods for the cooking are up,” wrote Williams. The Ryley Room wall has been excavated and waterproofed, while concrete has been laid for the terraces for the room and the main entrance. Williams wrote, “The schedule is tight but we hope we will complete it as planned. It is a fast-track complex project, and that makes hitting the deadline tough.” The security presence at both the Commons and Addison construction site has been increased. The Addison site has set up a guardhouse, and the Commons site has a hired security force and is under 24-hour video surveillance. The decision to increase security was made by the school, not the construction company, Williams said. Williams wrote that security was only necessary at Commons and the Addison because they are the only major renovations that continue into the school year. Security Officer Mitch Mejias said that his employer, Madison Security, was hired by Phillips Academy to provide security at the Commons site. The company keeps an officer at the site either 5 or 11 hours a day, depending on when the construction workers get off work. Mejias anticipates that Madison Security will be at the site until at least February. Since Mejias started the job on Tuesday, everything at the site has gone smoothly, he said. Mejias’ responsibilities include signing the construction workers in and out and recording the license plates of trucks that make deliveries to the site. However, Mejias said that the video surveillance is run independently of the security force. Mejias was also aware of the incident at the Commons site last spring, but did not know if his employer was hired in direct response to that incident. The Addison is also scheduled to reopen by 2010. “Construction has focused on the demolition of some behind-the-scenes areas in the existing building and on the excavation for the new foundation of the addition,” Williams wrote about the Addison. “The building will have to operate to prove that it is running properly a few months before the art returns so the actual construction will finish a bit before this date,” he said. Other small renovations also took place this summer including a “partial interior reconfiguration” of Bertha Bailey, final upgrades to Double Brick, and roof and brick wall repairs along with room reconfiguration in Fuess House. Room 103 in Morse also transformed over the summer – going from classroom to computer lab. According to Jacques Hugon, Instructor in Mathematics, the idea for a computer lab in Morse had been floating around for several years, but it really took hold during the 2006-2007 school year. Funding for the project was approved by the Board of Trustees last school year and was run jointly by OPP and the Technology Office. The lab will be used chiefly by math and computer science courses. “The main two motivations for creating this lab,” said Hugon, “were a greater demand and need to integrate technology into mathematics and to alleviate some scheduling issues in the PACC.” Hugon said that by moving computer science classes from the PACC to the Morse Computer Lab, the PACC has a free classroom for an additional three periods each day. According to Hugon, the room transition faced an extremely tight deadline. “When I stopped by in August, there was basically nothing in this room,” he said. Fifteen desktop computers were purchased for the lab, and air conditioning and a projector screen were installed as well. For future projects, Williams wrote that PA is raising funds for an expansion and renovation of Bulfinch and is seeking Trustee approval in November for a “major renovation” of the Andover Inn this summer.
