Plains school breaks ground on expansion

     As part of its goal to continuously improve the lives of its students and campus, the Plains school system held a ceremony Monday afternoon to break ground for their new multiple-use building. The new addition will include a full-sized rubberized court for physical education classes and games, a new art room with an area for ceramics kilns, and a space that can double as a classroom. 

     The facility will also incorporate a health and physical education office and storage. On one side of the building there will be a large, insulated garage-style door to facilitate loading and unloading of large equipment, including supplies for theater productions. There will be locker rooms, public restrooms and drama storage for staging and lights. The building will possess fixed seating and mobile seating for concerts, theater productions and performances. 

     The multi-purpose facility cost is estimated at a maximum of $1,681,834. The funding for the new building has come from the Department of Commerce Delivering Local Assistance Grant, school funds and a private donor, Mr. Neptune Lynch. According to Thom Chisholm, Plains Schools Superintendent, because of the sources for the funding, the taxpayers of Sanders County and Plains will have no out-of-pocket costs. Lynch, along with the construction personnel, the project architect, school board members and others gathered for the ceremony in front of the school. Members of these groups were given specially made shovels and helmets adorned with the Plains school mascot for the groundbreaking.

     The facility is slated to be completed by the end of June 2021, and the teams are working to get the roof on before the worst of winter sets in, so that there will be no delays in finishing the project, according to Mark Quinn, President of Western Interstate Inc. The construction firm working on the project Western Interstate, Inc. of Missoula, who won the bid in September. The group has worked on several county projects, including the Plains junior high addition several years ago.