July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
SA students to build five habitat homes (07/12/06)
South Adams School Board
By By JACK RONALD-
BERNE — Homecoming will mean home building at South Adams High School in August.
Student council sponsor Michael Baer outlined an unprecedented plan Tuesday to construct five Habitat for Humanity houses with student and community labor as part of the homecoming festivities.
Four of the houses will then be broken down into components and trucked to Mississippi as homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The fifth will be erected at a site in the South Adams school district.
Baer told members of the South Adams School Board that he’d heard some grumbling that homecoming is unusually early this year (Aug. 25). That led him to wonder about those families who lost their homes during Katrina and are still living in temporary quarters. Why not, he wondered, combine homecoming with home building?
As outlined by Baer and student council president Corey Sprunger, plans call for partnering with Habitat for Humanity and Crossroads Missions of Louisville, Ky.
Working with those organizations, it will be possible to get the necessary lumber at a price of $5,000 per house. Students will be going to the South Adams community over the next several weeks to raise the necessary $25,000 for the project. Support will be sought during Swiss Days later this month.
“We are absolutely the first high school (in the country) that has undertaken this,” said Baer.
“I’m really excited about this too,” said Sprunger.
Plans call for lumber for the houses to be pre-cut on Thursday, Aug. 24. On Friday, Aug. 25, the usual high school homecoming activities will take place, including a football game vs. Bellmont and a dance.
Saturday, Aug. 26, will be build day in the South Adams High School parking lot. Volunteer crew leaders are still needed, and volunteer labor of all ages is being sought for maximum community participation.
Frame walls and other components of the houses will be built and erected, though roof trusses will not be installed at that time, Baer said.
On Monday, Aug. 28, there will be an all-school assembly for dedication ceremonies for the finished houses. After that, they’ll be disassembled for shipping of the component parts.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful endeavor,” said superintendent Cathy Egolf.[[In-content Ad]]BERNE — South Adams School Board members aren’t sure what should be done about deteriorating conditions at the elementary and middle school buildings, but they believe it’s time to get the public involved and seek professional advice.
Board members heard two presentations by architectural firms Tuesday night, and more presentations are likely in the weeks ahead.
Open houses have been scheduled at the middle school and the elementary school so the public can see first-hand the problems with the aging structures.
The middle school open houses are set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, July 31, and Thursday, Aug. 3.
The elementary school open houses are set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 1, and Friday, Aug. 4.
No decisions have been made on such issues as renovation vs. replacement or the grouping of grade levels.
Fanning Howey of Celina, Ohio, and RQAW of Indianapolis made presentations to the board Tuesday, outlining their credentials, their experience with school construction projects, and their interest in the job.
Randy Sprunger, one of the principals in Fanning Howey, is a 1969 South Adams graduate, one of four South Adams grads on the firm’s staff.
“I’ve dreamed about this day,” said Sprunger. “I’m from here.”
Fanning Howey has served as architects on 70 new elementary schools in the past five years in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. The firm has been in business for 45 years.
RQAW — formerly known as Reid, Quebe, Allison and Wilcox — has been a consulting engineering and architectural firm for more than 50 years.
Fanning Howey was the architectural firm for Fort Recovery Elementary and Middle School, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade facility. RQAW was the architectural firm which designed Adams Central Elementary School.
As outlined by Sprunger, if the school board hires an architectural firm in September, the fall and winter would be spent developing a community consensus on the best way to proceed. Once that consensus is developed, design work could begin in April of 2007. A project could then be let for bids in January of 2008, with the expectation that students would be in a new school facility by the fall of 2009.
Superintendent Cathy Egolf noted that no matter what course the school corporation takes there are some serious short-term issues that may require shoring up the existing buildings in the interim.
In other business, the board:
• Elected Tony Mellencamp president, Steve Dobler vice president, and Julie Mansfield secretary.
• Accepted the resignations of athletic director Steve Rhoades and elementary custodian Leland Sprunger.
Student council sponsor Michael Baer outlined an unprecedented plan Tuesday to construct five Habitat for Humanity houses with student and community labor as part of the homecoming festivities.
Four of the houses will then be broken down into components and trucked to Mississippi as homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The fifth will be erected at a site in the South Adams school district.
Baer told members of the South Adams School Board that he’d heard some grumbling that homecoming is unusually early this year (Aug. 25). That led him to wonder about those families who lost their homes during Katrina and are still living in temporary quarters. Why not, he wondered, combine homecoming with home building?
As outlined by Baer and student council president Corey Sprunger, plans call for partnering with Habitat for Humanity and Crossroads Missions of Louisville, Ky.
Working with those organizations, it will be possible to get the necessary lumber at a price of $5,000 per house. Students will be going to the South Adams community over the next several weeks to raise the necessary $25,000 for the project. Support will be sought during Swiss Days later this month.
“We are absolutely the first high school (in the country) that has undertaken this,” said Baer.
“I’m really excited about this too,” said Sprunger.
Plans call for lumber for the houses to be pre-cut on Thursday, Aug. 24. On Friday, Aug. 25, the usual high school homecoming activities will take place, including a football game vs. Bellmont and a dance.
Saturday, Aug. 26, will be build day in the South Adams High School parking lot. Volunteer crew leaders are still needed, and volunteer labor of all ages is being sought for maximum community participation.
Frame walls and other components of the houses will be built and erected, though roof trusses will not be installed at that time, Baer said.
On Monday, Aug. 28, there will be an all-school assembly for dedication ceremonies for the finished houses. After that, they’ll be disassembled for shipping of the component parts.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful endeavor,” said superintendent Cathy Egolf.[[In-content Ad]]BERNE — South Adams School Board members aren’t sure what should be done about deteriorating conditions at the elementary and middle school buildings, but they believe it’s time to get the public involved and seek professional advice.
Board members heard two presentations by architectural firms Tuesday night, and more presentations are likely in the weeks ahead.
Open houses have been scheduled at the middle school and the elementary school so the public can see first-hand the problems with the aging structures.
The middle school open houses are set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, July 31, and Thursday, Aug. 3.
The elementary school open houses are set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 1, and Friday, Aug. 4.
No decisions have been made on such issues as renovation vs. replacement or the grouping of grade levels.
Fanning Howey of Celina, Ohio, and RQAW of Indianapolis made presentations to the board Tuesday, outlining their credentials, their experience with school construction projects, and their interest in the job.
Randy Sprunger, one of the principals in Fanning Howey, is a 1969 South Adams graduate, one of four South Adams grads on the firm’s staff.
“I’ve dreamed about this day,” said Sprunger. “I’m from here.”
Fanning Howey has served as architects on 70 new elementary schools in the past five years in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. The firm has been in business for 45 years.
RQAW — formerly known as Reid, Quebe, Allison and Wilcox — has been a consulting engineering and architectural firm for more than 50 years.
Fanning Howey was the architectural firm for Fort Recovery Elementary and Middle School, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade facility. RQAW was the architectural firm which designed Adams Central Elementary School.
As outlined by Sprunger, if the school board hires an architectural firm in September, the fall and winter would be spent developing a community consensus on the best way to proceed. Once that consensus is developed, design work could begin in April of 2007. A project could then be let for bids in January of 2008, with the expectation that students would be in a new school facility by the fall of 2009.
Superintendent Cathy Egolf noted that no matter what course the school corporation takes there are some serious short-term issues that may require shoring up the existing buildings in the interim.
In other business, the board:
• Elected Tony Mellencamp president, Steve Dobler vice president, and Julie Mansfield secretary.
• Accepted the resignations of athletic director Steve Rhoades and elementary custodian Leland Sprunger.
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