Renovation on track at FRHS

FORT RECOVERY — If everything continues to go as planned, distractions during the school year from a $3.4-million renovation project at Fort Recovery High School will be kept at a minimum.
Construction began at the school during the last full week of May, with the focus on the math/science wing. School officials are hoping to have work in one for the two science lab/classroom areas completed before the start of school, which is Aug. 22.
“We told them we wanted one half of that … to be done by the first day of school,” said Education Management Information System coordinator Kurt Wendel, who will become building and transportation supervisor on Aug. 1. “We can relocate classrooms amongst ourselves, but we’ve got to have one of those classrooms and one of those science labs. … That way at least we can have one lab accessible to the teachers.”
And while the original plan for the project called for construction in the Butler Street facility to continue throughout the school year, now contractors are expected to have the math/science wing completed by mid-October. Major construction will then cease for the remainder of the school year, with the rest of the project to be completed during the summer of 2013.
“We knew we were going to have to be flexible,” Wendel said. “The contractors said, ‘If you give us two sections from June 1 to the middle of October, we’re pretty confident we can get it done.’
“So there won’t be any major renovations or anything from mid-October through the end of the school year.”
Fort Recovery turned its focus to a renovation plan after voters in 2010 rejected by nearly a 2-to-1 margin a proposal for the construction of a new high school to the east of the current elementary/middle school on Sharpsburg Road. That project would have cost an estimated $10.86 million, with about half generated through local taxes and the rest provided by the Ohio School Facilities Commission.
Voters approved the ensuing high school renovation plan 62 percent to 38 percent (329-199) in November.
The largest part of the current project in terms of cost — about $750,000 — is replacement of the heating, ventilation and cooling system. Portions of the school’s boiler system were more than 50 years old. The project also includes $225,000 in electrical upgrades, $136,000 for the demolition of the 1935 portion of the building and $85,000 for roof replacement.
Current work includes the installation of ductwork for the new heating, ventilation and cooling system as well as new plumbing in the restrooms.
A hallway is also being built to connect the north end of the math/science wing to the school office area to the east. Previously, students had to either walk outside or circle the entire building indoors in order to get from one area to the other.
“We’ve never really been connected to our office,” said Wendel. “For security reasons now this eliminates an entrance … All of our kids now will remain inside.”
Renovation work during the summer of 2013 will be focused around replacement of the HVAC system in the remainder of the building. Workers will also have to construct a new wall and stair well on the southeast side of the building after the 1935 portion of the school is demolished. That area currently houses the school’s weight room facility.
Fort Recovery Athletic Boosters have agreed to fund the construction of a new “activities center”, which would include a weight room, but plans for that facility have not yet been finalized. Proposed sites have included the southeast corner of the facility where the 1935 section currently stands as well as the area west of the school that now serves as a band practice field.
“The goal is that by the first week of summer next year, about Memorial Day, we come into the 1935 section and get out everything that is salvageable,” Wendel said. “Our goal is two weeks after the last day of school they bring a wrecking ball in here and knock this down.”
He added that the target is to finish the entire project by Oct. of 2013.

[[In-content Ad]]