The board of education finance committee also is exploring how the project might be funded.
“We now have had 5 air quality inspections by experts and all 5 reports say that room is safe,” said Durbin. “That room is safe but it is not conducive to having 120 people in it.”
Durbin recommended to the school board that they “begin the planning process to provide students with classrooms that are conducive to the learning process.”
“I also told the board that in my opinion we did not have anything at the high school that would currently meet the needs of the music program therefore we would have to look at construction.”
The process began February 22 when Durbin contacted SHP Leading Design and asked them to develop some preliminary plans.
The planning process will take approximately six months.
Rough sketches by architects in 2004 called for a music wing being built onto the high school theatre.
“I would say 6 months would be fairly accurate time frame just to get to the bid documents,” said Durbin. “Then we have to look at how it’s going to be funded.”
Funding future capital improvements won’t be as easy as it’s been in the past due to Ohio’s deregulation of electric utilities which will see the district lose $8 million a year in tax revenue beginning in 2017, Teresa Napier, the district’s chief financial officer, noted at the February 19 board meeting.
In the past 15 years the district has spent $41 million on capital improvements, all coming out of the general fund. The major projects have included the Market Street School administration building, the new Locust Corner Elementary, remodeling and additions to Monroe Elementary, remodeling of New Richmond Elementary, structural repairs and façade replacement at the high school and two athletic complexes, including a state of the art football stadium with field turf and the baseball-softball complex currently under construction.
Once the architect has the preliminary plan they have to present it to the building and grounds committee which will review and make changes. After any revisions, the architect must meet with the entire board for approval to develop specifications and bid documents which will include an estimated cost for the project. The bid documents have to be approved and must be advertised for bids which have to be accepted.
“They already have some plans that were developed back in 2004 and I suggested they use those as kind of a guide but those plans were just sketches and not detailed plans,” explained Durbin.
In the 2004 sketches SHP suggested building a music wing onto the theatre with a band room on the first floor and a choral room on the second floor which would extend out from the current theatre lobby. Those plans were never developed after the school board began exploring building a new high school. The board chose to repair the current high school and replace the façade when the cost of a new building became exorbitant.
When the bids go out can determine how much the addition will cost, which could range between $2 million and $3 million.
“When you bid can help determine the price,” said Durbin. “If you bid early in the year, say January and February, this gives the construction companies the opportunity to plan for summer work. If you go out to bid in July or August and have an immediate construction schedule, you might not get the best bid because people already have on going jobs.
“An example is the baseball and softball athletic complex being constructed across the street from the high school. The plans had an estimated cost of $1.2 million, but because the bids came at a time when earth moving companies were looking for work the winning bid came in at just under $800,000.”
If approved by the board, construction of the music addition may not start until the summer of 2011.
“Next summer would be a good guess on my part,” said Durbin. “There are certain requirements you have to meet as far as occupancy so it depends on where they might build. If they build onto the theatre it might be hard to use the theatre. So there are a lot of variables involved in this. It’s not as simple as saying, ‘Let’s build this.’ You have to look at all the variables to determine when the best time to build.”
Some district parents have questioned the amount spent on athletics.
“Expenditures for athletics represent just 12.8 percent of our total capital improvements,” noted Durbin. “The stadium is not just for football and soccer, it’s a classroom for band and physical education classes.”
One week last fall saw the stadium hosting 9 high school soccer and football events in six days and was used daily during the week by the high school band and PE classes from the high school, middle school and New Richmond Elementary. The New Richmond youth football league then used the stadium all day on Sunday.
“You could not have done that without those improvements,” said Durbin.
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In other action at the February meeting, the school board accepted the resignation of Monroe teacher Carole Snider for the purpose of retirement; approved Emily Arnold, Kristie Bates, James Hufford Jr. and John Jandes as certified substitutes; approved William Gantzer, Cynthia Breller and Stephen Wright as classified substitutes; hired Lana Gilday as a homebound instructor; and approved a supplemental contract for Kelsey Bender as the middle school boys track coach.
