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Mod renovation to begin soon

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POLSON — School starts on Aug. 30 and so does remodeling on the modular buildings on the west side of Polson High School.

The building trades class will be doing the construction work under the guidance of instructor Darin Gunlock. So far, 14 high school students are signed up for the class, as well as five college students. 

The workers will re-side and re-roof the “mods” and build new stairs while the weather is nice, and then concentrate on indoor work such as painting, carpet cleaning and installing air conditioning. 

Project Manager Gehrand Bechard estimated the work would take approximately six to eight weeks. The students will use better materials and maybe “preserve the buildings for another 30 years,” according to Bechard. 

Then the crew will move on to the VoTech building that is also located west of PHS. The building is structurally sound but needs refurbishing, according to Bechard. Plans call for the building to be divided into three or four classrooms.

Over the years, students in the program have built five houses and sold four of the buildings. Because of the sluggish real estate market, the class wouldn’t have been able to build another home during the 2010-11 school year. So Bechard and Polson Superintendent David Whitesell came up with the idea of fixing up the mods to keep the class intact as well as provide maintenance on the mods. 

“David Whitesell has been so instrumental in helping us move forward with this project,” Bechard added. 

PHS and Flathead Valley Community College have joined forces to offer the class. It allows area college and high school students to earn college credit and learn valuable building skills in the process.

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