SA board looks at layouts

BERNE — South Adams has the room to accomplish its renovation goals without expanding its footprint. Now it’s a matter of figuring out the specifics of how the project will be configured, built and funded.
During a work session Tuesday, South Adams School Board heard a presentation from Indianapolis firm Performance Services about proposed renovations to its high school building.
Architect Steve Savoie presented two potential layouts for the high school, both of which show that the main objective — relocating the main office to an area near the northeast entrance — can be done without new construction. Other objectives include renovating the media center (library) and surrounding classrooms to improve acoustics and make them more conducive to learning, improving the use of the space in the former industrial arts shop on the northwest side of the building, renovating entrances to improve energy efficiency and providing more space for the machine trades program.
“Why are we doing this?” asked superintendent Scott Litwiller. “The main reason is to enhance the learning environment of the high school and also improve the security and safety.
“We have enough room to keep our main office inside our existing footprint … which will save money.”
There had been concern that an addition to the school would have to be made in order to accommodate moving the main office.
Both initial options presented to the board Tuesday would relocate the main office to a 2,000-square-foot area on the east side of the northeast entrance to the high school. It would be configured so that visitors would have to pass through the main office from the vestibule before entering the school.
Other similarities in the two options include: enclosing the media center, which is currently open space at the center of the classroom area; eliminating the locker alcoves along the east side of the main hallway to create more classroom space in a reconfigured format; also reconfiguring the athletics department area and current main office to better accommodate the athletics and guidance department staff.
“In both options, we looked at, ‘How can these … elements and their recommended square footages fit around this central, potentially refurbished media center, and create a fixed classroom environment surrounding it,” said Savoie.
The biggest difference between the two options involves the location of the science classrooms and machine trades area.
One option proposes moving the science labs to the northwest corner of the building that at one time housed the industrial arts shops. That would allow for the creation of a “professional development room” adjacent to the main office.
The other calls for leaving the science classrooms in their current location near the media center and using the former industrial arts shop, which is about 8,000 square feet, as the new home of the machine trades shop. Machine trades classes are currently conducted in a separate 5,000-square-foot area adjacent to the bus garage.
Decisions on such specifics and others will come later in the process, Litwiller explained.
An initial estimate provided by Performance Services puts the construction cost at $2.8 million and the total project cost at $3.7 million. The bulk of the construction cost — $2 million — is for the renovation of the media center and surrounding rooms. Representatives from the company noted that those initial estimates include everything South Adams had on its wish list and that there is room for cost reductions.
The project is to be paid partially from money saved by refinancing bonds from the middle/elementary school construction project. That process is underway and is expected to amount to about $2 million in savings over time, though those numbers have not yet been finalized.
The next step is slated for the Sept. 13 meeting, at which the board will discuss options for funding and completing the project. Litwiller noted that the intent is to be able to complete the project via the bond savings and other revenue sources without having to increase the tax rate.
The board is then scheduled to decide on a strategy — the traditional design-bid-build or the design-build format they used with Performance Services for the elementary/middle school — at its Oct. 11 meeting. The goal would then be to select an architect or developer by November and begin the design process.
Construction would occur during summer 2017 and be completed by the start of the 2017-18 school year.