CAMPAIGN UPDATE:
Historic Restoration Continues — Phase Two
How could Harmony Education Center top the news that the exterior of the building was completely refurbished during Summer 2004? The second summer was even more exciting as work went inside. Here are some details.
The transition from school building to construction site happened within days. “One day we had a school full of students, furniture, and computers and a couple of days later the rooms were empty and we had a major construction site,” says Barb Bonchek, building coordinator for Harmony School. “It was almost like magic.”

The second phase of the continuing restoration of Harmony’s home in the old Elm Heights Elementary School began right after the end of Harmony School’s graduation on May 28. Within a few days most of the furniture was removed and stored in temporary trailers to make way for the summer’s work. The task at hand was nothing less than the complete rewiring and upgrading of the school’s electrical and technology infrastructure.

Built in 1926, the school’s wiring had been upgraded many times over the years, mostly with unsightly add-on conduit. Last summer’s work started with all of the old wiring and conduit being removed and hauled away in multiple loads of big red dumpsters. New pathways inside the walls and all new wiring was added so that the summer ended with upgraded electrical wiring, fire and smoke detection, computer networking, and a digital telephone system. Wireless computer zones are also part of the new system.

All of this new wiring is now hidden and the walls are freshly plastered and painted.

Carl Cook, who attended Elm Heights and is currently co-chair of the HEC Capital Campaign, notes “It is all modern now but the school looks like when it was brand new - in fact, because of the new digital wiring, it’s better than new.”

In addition, before school resumed around Labor Day the school was equipped with all-new lighting fixtures, ceiling fans in all rooms, and zoned air conditioning to replace older units in offices and spaces used year-round. Air compressors and duct work are hidden to preserve the historic integrity of the building.

The building houses the administrative offices of Harmony Education Center, the Harmony School, and the national office of the National School Reform Faculty. The NSRF is the national part of HEC that works in professional development for 14,000 trained coaches who work in school reform activities around the country. Rhino’s Youth Center is another part of HEC, operating from a second location in downtown Bloomington (see related story in this newsletter).

Several local firms handled the work, including Cassady Electric, Commercial Service, Pritchett Brothers Construction, ElectriCom, and Cornwell Communications. George Ridgway of Ridgway and Associates is architect for the renovation project, and Mike Heinz is the mechanical engineer.

The work was funded through HEC’s Capital Campaign, announced in May 2004. The renovation has already seen over $2 million invested in the building, with more to come. The next phase will involve equipping every room, a commercial kitchen, landscaping and exterior period lighting for the school’s park-like campus, and erection of a new amphitheatre. Future work will allow expansion of unused space on the lower level for a large meeting space and community room.

Additional goals for the remainder of the campaign include an endowed fund for maintenance of the restored building, and a scholarship fund to help needy Harmony School students attend the school.

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