Fraser hosts groundbreaking for new high school expansion

FRASER — On Dec. 9, Fraser Public Schools staff, construction staff and public officials hosted a groundbreaking at Fraser High School to kick off construction for a new addition billed as an all-purpose expansion area.

“This is going to encompass and accommodate room for the wrestling team, which is a growing team here, our dance team, our cheerleaders as well as the gymnastics team,” Fraser Public Schools Director of Operations and Maintenance Jim Birko said.

The expansion will provide more room for the teams to perform their exercises, routines and practices. Previously, the teams had to utilize other areas of the school that had more room and higher ceilings to practice. They will no longer have to move around mats or practice during late hours to accommodate activities for the rest of the school.

Birko said due to overlapping practices, teams would be spread throughout the school including the cafeteria, the auxiliary gym and other places.

“This will give every one of the teams more space for their practices and not have to practice, you know, until 10 o’clock at night,” Birko said. 

“Or roll the mats up,” Fraser Public Schools Superintendent Carrie Wozniak said.

It will not affect the neighboring tennis courts and student life will go unaffected as well.

Birko said this expansion was a long time coming and that it is exciting for the high school and the district. Wozniak said the need for the expansion was recognized a while ago. The bond for the expansion and other things such as heating, cooling and ventilation and the parking lots was passed by voters four years ago. The entire bond was worth $59 million.

Birko said they didn’t know how everything was going to come together initially.

“We were actually going to take this area and do something over at the stadium and as the bond started to proceed, we realized that that wasn’t a cost-effective way,” Birko said. “This was going to be far more cost-effective to encompass this area and utilize some of the existing space.”

Birko said a lot of the bond had technical aspects the public can’t see and that this was one of the visible construction projects.

Fraser High School Athletic Director Shane Redshaw said the teams and the athletic administration have been asking for this for a while and that they finally had the opportunity to put it on the bond.

“This is well overdue and something that cheer and wrestling and gymnastics and dance have been asking for since I’ve been here, for 10 years,” Redshaw said.

He said they have seen an increase in kids getting involved in the teams and that there is also a club wrestling team running out of the middle school.

Redshaw said the students and staff are excited for the new addition. Parents, students and others have been asking for the new addition for years and they knew about it when it was placed on the bond four years ago. Redshaw said he wants to thank the Fraser Public Schools Board of Education and the administration for placing it on the bond.

“School board, superintendent, they went above and beyond to get us what we needed for the Athletic Department,” Redshaw said. “Right now, we’re currently one of the few schools in Macomb that doesn’t have an all-purpose mat room so for us this puts us on the same level as a lot of schools in our area now.”

Construction will start in the winter with an estimated completion date by the beginning of the next school year.