The USD 320 Board of Education heard about problems with elementary school issues. At Monday’s meeting, Operations Director Larry Hannan highlighted the issues with Central Elementary’s problems because of the wet spring. He emphasized these issues are with the most recent construction 5 years ago. The spring rains caused the foundation dirt on the East side of the building to wash away, which caused the waterproof geotextile to fail, causing water to seep into the gym causing damage to the floor. He said a request for proposal is out for the gym floor repair. He added FEMA will reimburse up to 75% of the foundation issues, while the state will match 10%, so the District comes up with the remaining 15%
In addition, Hannan said Central’s heat pump system has been a problem since installation. He said there were numerous joint leaks where the PVC-to- brass fittings were not done correctly, which caused the ceiling tiles to fail. The total cost to repair is over $17,500. Superintendent Denise O’Dea contacted the contractors for remediation, but received checks totaling only $6,000. Rather than seek legal action, the Board voted to accept the $6,000 settlement by a vote of 7 to 0.
In other business, the Board approved the request for the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) to attend the National Fall Leadership Conference in Omaha, Nebraska on November 6 and 7th.
The USD 320 Board of Education reviewed extensive site plans for the Districts facility needs. At Monday’s meeting BBN Artichect Brent Bowman went over the plans for the Middle School’s new 5th and 6th grade center, the proposed plan for the church property which included a new District Office/Special Services Coop in one building, a new pre-kindergarten building, with no remodel to the existing parish hall and education building. He also presented a site plan for a new pre-kindergarten building, a smaller District office, with the Special Services Coop housed in the remodeled Parish Hall and Education Center. The difference in cost between in the two plans is $435,000, with the latter plan the lesser cost.
BBN’s Carl Riblett went over the site plan for the repairs to the West Elementary playground (there’s a flooding problem) and the Sports Complex renovations adding new locker rooms and a concession stand. Both of these plans generated questions from the Board, with BBN going back and revisiting the suggestions. The Board decided to take time to study the plans and set a special work session for November 2nd at the Middle School with BBN coming back to the November 9th board meeting.
