CHARLO — School superintendent Paul Jenkins has only been part of the Charlo district since July 1, but a nice gift awaited his arrival: A new multipurpose room set to be completed in January or February.

Jenkins taught for more than 20 years at Helena Flats in Kalispell, and now has the reins in the Charlo School District, where sounds of construction compete with the sounds of children playing on the playground. The Charlo school complex has some aging buildings, including the main structure, which recently had a wall replaced that Jenkins said was bowing.

After an older multi-purpose building burned down a few years ago, the Charlo School Board decided to use insurance money, which totaled around $200,000, and a $1.2 million grant from the federal government to build the new structure, which will contain a gym, weight room, locker rooms, several offices and a concession stand. The new facility will also serve as a multi-purpose room and be used for everything from physical education class to drama productions.

The new building will be attached to the old gym. A new lobby in between those two buildings will house a concession stand and several covered walkways.

“We’re getting the preliminaries done, just starting to pour the footings inside the structure,” Jenkins said. “We’re about two weeks ahead of schedule.”

Jenkins also said there was some controversy over the construction of the new building, but that it was resolved before he started as superintendent.

Claire Rasmussen, the athletic director and kindergarten through eighth grade principal, said the issue arose during discussions about what the building would be used for.

“The controversy was over the fact that we are building another gym,” Rasmussen said. “That’s true, it is another gym, but it can be used for all sorts of other activities besides athletics. What people don’t remember is that what burned down originally was a gym.”

The other activities, according to Rasmussen, will be drama productions, band concerts and other extracurriculars. A portable stage will make it easy to transform the gym from a basketball court into a theater-like setting. Rasmussen hopes the new building will provide better acoustics then the older gym currently does. And, if all goes to plan, the two gyms can host “double headers” concurrently.

“We could put a boys JV team in one gym and the girls JV team in the other gym, and then have the varsity contests afterwards in the main gym,” Rasmussen said. “The bottom line is, it will enable us to have activities with more teams in less time.”

The new multi-purpose building will also be available for community use for bigger events, depending on the school use schedule. Jenkins says that the building will be completed in January or February, and the Charlo school district will host a community event of some sort to kick off the opening.