By Erin McClary
C & G Staff Writer

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — The L’Anse Creuse Board of Education approved the purchase of a chunk of land for its new administration building Aug. 18.

The new administration building will basically be an expansion of the district’s existing Harold C. Siebert Special Services building on F.V. Pankow Boulevard off Gratiot in Clinton Township, said Bob Randlett, former assistant superintendent for business and part-time consultant for L’Anse Creuse Public Schools.

“We’re just moving administration out there,” said Randlett. “It’ll be more centrally located.”

At the meeting, Assistant Superintendent for Businesses Robert Burke recommended the purchase of 1.14 acres for $330,000 to hold the new building. Money for doing so is coming from Series 3 of the district’s 2005 bond issue. Construction isn’t expected to begin until 2011.

“We’re a number of years away from constructing this building,” said Burke. “It’s in the preliminary stages … casually discussed at meetings. But nothing is concrete yet.”

The current administration building on Jefferson Avenue in Harrison Township is going to be converted to a childcare facility once the new building is finished, Randlett said.

He described the new location as more of a central campus for L’Anse Creuse, housing several of the district’s building’s including the DiAnne M. Pellerin center, which will replace L’Anse Creuse’s current Riverside Academy adult and alternative education facility in Mount Clemens. Construction of the Pellerin Center broke ground this March and is expected to be wrapped up before the 2009-10 school year.

The Pellerin Center will take Riverside’s current 350 Riverside Ravens from a 22,000-square-foot facility to a 37,000-square-foot building with room to spare.

“Our goal is to house 500 students,” said Principal Michelle Irwin, who hopes the new building will accommodate the school’s non-traditional project-based learning program. “We’re really taking an alternative approach. This will not be your cookie-cutter building.”

The new building, which will be located at the northwest corner of F. V. Pankow Boulevard and Gratiot Avenue, will be equipped with a large common area, media center and student-run café. Totaling all the interior and exterior amenities, it will cost around $8 million to complete.

Riverside is the third school in the district to receive a whole new building from the 2005 bond issue. Construction of the new Green Elementary began this spring. The new administration building, which hasn’t been given a permanent name just yet, will be on the south side of F.V. Pankow Boulevard across from the Pellerin Center. It is expected to be finished for the 2009-10 school year.

Also on the Pankow campus is the district’s Larry F. Brender Transportation and Maintenance building, the John Armstrong Performing Arts Center, and of course, the Frederick V. Pankow Center and the Siebert Special Services building.