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A month ago, the French classroom at Pittsburg High School was filled not only with students, but also with desks, chairs, and cabinets. Now, all those desks, chairs and cabinets are lining the hallways while work goes on to renovate the flooring of the room.

Pittsburg High School is undergoing a few cosmetic changes this summer. It starts with completing the renovations and retilings of several bathrooms in the high school, and ends with about a dozen classrooms getting brand-new flooring before students return in August.

"Actually, some of that is the original flooring from when the school was built in 1980.That's probably all from one classroom. The rest was about 10-14 years old. Typically, we asked some architects what the standard life of a carpet was in a school, and they said about seven years. It was due," said Jim Newell, USD 250 maintenance director.

Some of those working on the project said that the decision to replace the old carpet with tile in all but two rooms will prove fruitful for the school district. Or at least, they said, to the cleaning crews.

"You can only clean a carpet so many times, then it begins to stink," said Mike Newman of Quality Floors, who is helping in the installation. "Especially with the wintertime, when schools are open, and kids track in mud and snow. Tile is a lot easier to keep clean. It's a lot more sanitary than carpet, which holds so much in it."

The carpet in many of the rooms is being replaced while the students are gone. Crews have to cut the carpet, roll it up and carry it out, then use a special machine to scrape the carpet glue off the floors. Only when the floors are clear of any glue residue can the process of laying tile begin.

The bathrooms are a different story. The tile in those rooms is being placed directly on top of the old tile, creating an entirely new look. In addition, all of the original fixtures, stalls and walls are being replaced. In effect, Newman said, they are "gutting them and starting over."

Some minor remodeling work is also taking place at Pittsburg Community Middle School this summer. Newell said all the projects would be completed by the first week in August, if not before that date.

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