School District of Mauston

Mauston, WI

The School District of Mauston hired PRA to provide a Facilities Analysis and Educational Space Adequacy study. There were many deficient classroom spaces at two of their elementary schools and the high school lacked adequate space, especially for technical education and STEAM programs. Most of the buildings are located on one main campus.

Mauston wanted to implement a “grade level community” model before thinking about the design of the building. They sought to consider and incorporate the unique aspect of each grade level. Due to this, Core Groups and User Groups were established to meet and help with the decision-making process. Multiple options were developed for the School Board, ultimately resulting in a successful $54.8 million referendum that would do the following:

Replacing West Side Elementary School with a new elementary school on the main campus
Improve site safety, traffic flow, and site drainage at the main campus
Priority capital maintenance at Lyndon Station Elementary School (outlying school)
Addition, remodeling, and capital maintenance at Grayside Elementary School
Priority capital maintenance & updates at Olson Middle School

Addition to expand technical education, agriculture, art, FAB Lab, and greenhouse; renovation / expansion of iLEAD Charter classrooms; secure entry upgrade; and capital maintenance at Mauston High School. One of the biggest challenges on this project is that almost all of the buildings in the District are located on one campus. Site circulation had to work properly to ensure safety for students, buses, parent, and visitors. The busiest entry points were minimized, and additional access points were added to separate traffic for certain schools.