Classroom construction begins in Royal School District construction project

ROYAL CITY — Walls are rising on two classrooms at Royal Middle School, with roof trusses going up as early as this week.

That was among the updates from Royal School District Superintendent Roger Trail to Royal School Board members on the progress of the district remodeling project at the regular board meeting Jan. 26. Trail also said the old foyer at the gym has been demolished.

“They’re moving right along,” he said.

Construction on the project began in November, after district voters approved a bond for upgrades at the high school and middle school in February 2019.

The remodeling will connect the existing high school, its gym, cafeteria and library, which currently are all separate buildings. Both the middle school and high school will get two new classrooms.

Trail said construction is projected to be completed by summer 2022. Total project cost is about $19.87 million.

In other business, board members voted to join a temporary athletic league of schools from Grant, Okanogan, Douglas and Chelan counties for 2021 sports seasons.

Normally, RHS is in the South Central Athletic Conference, but the COVID-19 outbreak has scrambled school schedules and all activities along with it. Trail said it’s still uncertain how many CWAC schools will be able to field teams, and to give kids an opportunity to compete, district officials decided to join the temporary North Central conference.

Trail said the region’s athletic directors are working on schedules, matching like schools. Fall sports are scheduled to begin later this month, if the region has met state mandates and entered the second phase of a plan imposed by Gov. Jay Inslee to ease lockdown restrictions.