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The District 64 Board of Education held a regular meeting on Thursday, January 25th, in the Hendee Rooms.
After months of research and planning by staff, District Administrators recommended an option to begin the first phase of Lincoln Middle School renovations. The School Board voted to move forward with this plan.
Wight and Company, along with Dr. Ben Collins, Dr. Adam Paris, and Noel Mendoza, explained why “Approach 3” was the best option to pursue. “I think the big conversation that we had the last couple of weeks is with the grand scheme of everything,” said Dr. Collins.
The diagrams presented at the meeting are very early representations of the work that will be done at Lincoln.
The core of the first phase includes renovating spaces that would house the SLC program and a new program for students who require emotional support. In both cases, these students are currently placed out of the district at the middle school age at a significant cost to taxpayers. Bringing these programs back into the district better serves these students, provides a more inclusive learning environment, and ultimately costs less. “Inside this special education area, it still includes the specialized space…like bathrooms that are directly related to the classrooms, a life skills area that could include things like laundry, kitchen, and other aspects of the SLC program,” said Dr. Collins. “We still would have to go in and design specifically what that will look like, but we know we’ve got plenty of square feet to do that.” There will also not be an addition built in this initial phase, but it could come later as part of phase 2.
“We can use that money that we would have been using for water reclamation in phase one right away back into the building and take care of some of the other needs that we know exist,” explained Dr. Collins on why not building an addition right away sets up Lincoln better for the long run.
Phase 1, which has an estimated cost of $8.5 million - $10.5 million, will be paid for with bonds sold in correlation with resolution #1330.
When looking at phase 2 it includes building an addition that would hold a new cafeteria/multipurpose space, kitchen, and performance area that is in line with the newer Emerson Middle School. The second phase also would include renovation for the rest of the school, updating the aging HVAC system, lighting system, and other necessary upgrades for the nearly 100 year old building. Cost estimates are still being worked on and will be more specific once phase 1 has gone through the engineering phase.
Now that the Board has approved the sale of $10 million of bonds to fund phase 1, more detailed planning with staff and architects can happen. Then, we can start putting out different types of bids and possibly have some work done this summer and creatively get work done with split schedules in the Fall of 2025. The timeline for phase 2 is still a work in progress because it depends on what funding is available.
Over the next month, District Administrators will work with our architects and Emerson staff to continue conversations on what work needs to be done there and what that would specifically look like.
“Our goal would be to build this overarching number for what would the entire new master facilities plan look like for everything? We will give you an update on that in February,” said Dr. Collins.
The entire BOE news brief can be found on our website.
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