press release
THE WINCHESTER STAR

"It's like a new school"

Public gets a look at Handley renovation

By STEPHANIE MANGINO
smangino@winchesterstar.com
Monday, February 25, 2008

WINCHESTER — Winchester Public Schools Superintendent Dennis W. Kellison heard nearly "every accolade you can think of" at Saturday’s open house showcasing Phase II of Handley High School’s renovation, restoration, and expansion project.

"It’s changed a lot, but it’s beautiful," said Carol Delauter, a 1960 graduate who is also the mother of a Handley alumnus. She spoke from the school’s commons area, which was a play court during her tenure at the school.

A new mezzanine, created in Phase II, allows people to look down on the commons from above.

A student union area, also part of Phase II, features a skylight above the entire room and some walls formed by brick archways that had been hidden during previous renovations.

Delauter, who attended the school from fourth grade through graduation, said in her elementary years, a garden area existed in the student union’s spot.

"It’s like a new school, but yet it has the same ... outside, which is beautiful," she said, commenting on the renovations.

Christa Doerwaldt, 18, was one of the many Handley students conducting tours of the school during the open house. Kellison said the student tour guides were National Honor Society members.

As Christa and classmate Suzi Gordon, 17, handled a tour, Christa said their class is the last to have started school in the building before the improvement project began.

The work at Handley, which started in 2005, has an estimated total project cost of $63.9 million. The school, which measured 270,000 square feet at the project’s outset, will be 310,000 square feet upon its scheduled completion in 2009.

Phase III is expected to include main and auxiliary gym work, a cafeteria renovation and expansion, and a renovation of the music department. Work will occur on the Handley Bowl’s outdoor facilities after the building tasks are complete.

Living with all the construction hasn't’t really been a problem, Suzi said. Rather, it’s been interesting to see how things have changed.

Sometimes, a classroom can be transformed over a weekend, Christa said.

The Phase II work included not only the student union, but also the addition of general offices at the Handley Boulevard entrance to the school, the completion of the second-floor addition started in Phase I, and the creation of some additional classrooms.

Phase II also included the renovation of the original 1923 portion of the building. At the outset of the tour she conducted with Suzi, Christa pointed out that black beams crossing the high ceiling above the commons area are original to the school, as are a series of half-moon windows placed at the top of a wall leading into the auditorium.

The school’s history was recalled by more than just its renovated elements on Saturday.

Retired state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., director of a capital campaign that is raising private donations to offset the Handley project’s cost, announced several donations to the school, many of which had links to its past.

Bill and Kathleen Quarles of Quarles Petroleum have provided $50,000 earmarked for the Quarles Pavilion, which is in an area outside of the school’s library, Potts said.

The pavilion will feature photos of former Winchester Public Schools Superintendent Garland R. Quarles and will honor his accomplishments, Kathleen Quarles said on Saturday.

Those accomplishments include the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival ceremonies in which all of the school system’s students once participated, Potts said.

The late superintendent was her husband’s great-half-uncle, said Kathleen Quarles, who heads Handley’s Parent-Teacher Organization. The pavilion will also feature photos of her and Bill Quarles’s branch of the family.

Bill Quarles’s father graduated from Handley, and Kathleen and her husband are the parents of a 2006 Handley graduate. The couple also has children graduating this year and in 2012, she said.

Jim and Cora Helen Fry Anderson also contributed a significant amount, $25,000, which was matched by former students of Cora Helen Fry Anderson’s father and Handley’s long-time assistant principal, Archie L. Fry, to create a total donation of $50,000, according to Potts.

Archie Fry, who taught vocational agriculture at the school from 1935-36, returned to the school in 1942 after a stint in Rappahannock County, his daughter said.

He became Handley’s assistant principal in 1952 and stayed in the position until 1968, Anderson said. Fry then handled public relations for the school system until 1972, she added.

Anderson said she feels her father embodied Handley’s pride and its spirit during his more than 30 years of service. The school was always entwined in her life, she said.

"I feel like it was my bread and butter from the time I was 3 years old until my father passed away," she said.

Potts then mentioned a $50,000 contribution toward the Larry Nelson weight room by Eddie Yost, Rocky Yost, and Steve Butler. The trio could not attend Saturday’s event.

Another $50,000 donation was provided by a former student to name the math department for some of the school’s math teachers. Those names will be decided upon at a later date, Potts said.

An anonymous donor has given $100,000 toward the creation of a new track that will be built in front of the school, and Potts promised further announcements regarding major contributions toward the track in April.

Additionally, Potts said Bell’s Clothing and Irvin and Sarah Shendow provided a $10,000 contribution toward the school’s fundraising campaign.

Thus far, $5,532,000 has been raised privately for the renovation, restoration, and expansion project, Potts said on Saturday.

The Winchester City Council has committed $50 million in bonds to the project, and another $7 million is expected to be provided through historic tax credits.

Also, the sale of Handley’s modular classrooms and the collection of interest on bonds is expected to total another $2 million.

As the renovation, restoration, and expansion has progressed, it has transformed from a school project into a community project — one that has been made stronger through the opinions of both supporters and critics, Kellison said as he watched visitors move through the school at the open house.

Handley has always been about that kind of connection to the community, he said.

"It was never just a building."

VMDO Architects was founded in 1976 and is the youngest firm to receive the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Architecture Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Virginia Society of American Institute of Architects.

For further information, interview, and photography opportunities in reference to this project and VMDO Architects, please contact William Bishop at 434.296.5684, email at bishop@vmdo.com.