Caledonia Argus

Bids competitive on school retrofit

Posted: 4/9/02

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

Bids for retrofitting the current high school have come in lower than the estimate, Mark Kotten of Kraus-Anderson reported to the board Tuesday evening, April 2, that there were several bidders. K-A will be looking at the bids and come back to the board in a few weeks with a recommendation.

Commenting on the positive response Kotten said, ìItís pretty nice to see a $2.5 million project with this much bidding.î

School board members also received an update on how the high school will be retrofitted into an elementary school.

Katrin Schubach, architect for SGN, described the updates.

The employee lounge will be turned into the superintendentís office. That office will have air conditioning and its own separate entrance.

The cafeteria will have a new window system and there will be some new kitchen equipment added.

The shop and agriculture area will be turned into the kindergarten and ECFE (Early Childhood and Family Education) and ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) room. The existing bathroom in that area will be used. A few bathrooms will be added for the kindergartners.

The existing dust collector, which is used as an air filter for the industrial arts room, will be removed to make room for additional parking.

The community education room will be turned into a nurses room.

Room #101 will be used as the new staff lounge.

The media center will remain the same but will be recarpeted with ìfunî carpeting. Shelves will be taken down in the southwest corner and turned into a storytelling area with soft seating. That room will also be air conditioned.

Windows will be updated in most of the building. In rooms for grades kindergarten through fifth, there will be new heating and and ventilation systems.

The biology room, currently Ken Van Den Boomís room, will become the new art room.

The gymnasium will remain the same except there will be some changes in the air handling exchange unit.

The boys locker room in the basement will become storage area and the girls locker room will be split into a boys and girls locker rooms.

For greater accessibility, a lift will be installed to the left of the stage in the gymnasium located to the left where a storage room is now.

The music rooms will remain the same except there will be some new heating and ventilation added.

The current art rooms will house the K-1 activities room and also the adaptive physical education room.

The entrances into the building will remain as are except that the entrance into the cafeteria will be walled off and an entrance for teachers will be made for the ECFE & ECSE room.

The second floor will house grades 2-5. Each class will have a separate room for storage. Each floor will have computer lab that will have air conditioning.

The south side will have rooms side by side for EBD (emotional Behavioral Disorder) and LD (Learning Disability) classes.

All classes will have new sinks, a wardrobe closet and tall storage cabinet.

Restrooms on the west part of the building will have the space reconfigured to allow for wheelchair access.The spaces will be changed by changing the size of a janitorial closet, located next to it.

There will be some new ceiling tiles, all new VCT flooring, a few new carpeted rooms, new light fixtures and a sprinkler system.

The lockers on the main hallway on the first floor will remain except the hooks may be lowered to adjust for the smaller child. Kindergartners will have their belongings in little cubby shelves in their room. The three kindergarten rooms will also have their own bathrooms.

Some lockers will be replaced and all lockers will be repainted.

There was some discussion on where black topped and grass playground space will be located in conjunction with where the parking space will be located.

Board member Suzanne Roesler said that a committee needs to review the issues and devise a transportation plan.

The current elementary school sign has been planned to be placed where the high school sign is located.

Superintendent Percy Lingen expressed concern that the sign would draw people into the district office. It is planned that the district office and elementary will have two separate entrances.

She suggested placing the elementary sign closer to the entrance of the school which is located inside the parking lot.

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