The Marshall County Board of Education is moving forward on the next major renovation in the district.
Board members on Thursday approved project application forms be sent to the Kentucky Department of Education, outlining cost estimates on expansions at both Marshall County High School and Sharpe Elementary School. Facilities Director Jeff Stokes said those estimates were not final costs; however, it’s a critical starting point.
“It’s just for us to get started with this and get KDE approval so they can give us a project number as we go forward with this particular project,” Stokes said. “… It basically breaks down the money.”
Total estimated cost for the high school renovation project was estimated at more than $11.5 million. Total costs on the Sharpe Elementary project were estimated at just more than $2.1 million.
It’s a necessary expense to meet the growth of the district, said Marshall County Schools Superintendent Trent Lovett.
“On our local facilities plan, Sharpe and the high school were the next two on the list after we built the new South Marshall Middle School,” Lovett said. “… Well, Sharpe Elementary, when they came in and did a building evaluation, the amount to redo everything that needs to be done in there was almost, like, close to $9 million.”
Lovett said the local planning group determined to build an additional wing to alleviate the crowding in the school and buy about 10 years to pay off other debts before constructing a new school.
Sharpe expansion costs were estimated at just over $2.1 million; $1.8 million of that expense came in construction costs. Architect and engineering fees were estimated at about $133,000; Topographical surveys and geotech reports accounted for $12,300 of the project, inspections were expected to cost about $15,500 and printing and HBC review costs were estimated at about $17,000.
The elementary school project will include the construction of a new 5,500 square foot wing onto the existing school. The addition will include preschool classrooms, resource rooms and a music classroom. The project also calls for the renovation of about 2,000 square-feet of space to create a secured facility entrance and improved traffic flow.
“If you’re ever there for bus dismissal and arrival it’s pretty hectic,” Lovett said. “So, we’re going to put a road behind it – that’s where we’re going to add the new section – we’re going to make some adjustments in the office area, some things in there.”
Lovett said eventually, the district would likely build one new school to replace Calvert City Elementary and Sharpe, and another to replace South Marshall Elementary and Jonathan rather than incurring the expense to replace all six elementary schools.
Marshall County High School renovations were more in-depth than those planned for Sharpe. Lovett said the 40-year-old facility had undergone minor changes, such as new heating and air units, and one addition, but by and large, the school remained unchanged.
“We want to revamp the office, turn it around the other direction,” Lovett said. “Because as it is now, when you enter, you walk down a hallway, and then you can go into the office if you want to or you can slide off without anybody in the office really ever knowing you’re there. So, we’re going to have a common entrance, where they come into the office. There will be hallways where they feed off from there, but they have to come in that one entrance. … The commons area, they’re going to redo that. Of course, there’s other needs like redoing the duct work, the lighting and all that kind of stuff. So, we’re going to try to do some of that with a performance contract, and if we can get that done, we may get hopefully $15 million of improvements at the high school but only have to bond about $10 million of it.”
About $10 million of the high school renovation project expense was allotted to construction costs, while architect and engineering fees were expected to come in at $687,500, according to project application forms. Survey and geotech work was expected to cost $36,000, special inspections and printing were estimated at $15,000 apiece and HBC code review accounted for $30,000 of that total. Other expenses factored into the project included $500,000 in construction contingencies.
According to the project application, renovations would include mechanical work, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, doors and hardware, safety and security, new fire and sprinkler systems, ADA compliance upgrades, roofing and exterior wall construction, among the list of necessary project components.
Lovett said engineers believe the elementary school project could be complete within a year. However, the high school could stretch over two summers, as much of the work could not be completed while students were in session. Both, he said, are contingent on the time it takes to obtain KDE approval and from there begin the bidding process.
Stokes said he hoped to have word back from KDE on approval within three weeks of application submission.