New school construction on schedule

Mark your calendars.

A grand opening public event for the new Holton Elementary School is now being tentatively planned for 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18, according to “important dates’’ listed at Monday’s school board meeting.

If everything continues to progress nicely at the new Holton Elementary School, as it has in the past month, teachers and other staff should be able to start moving into the new school during the last week of July, school board members learned here Monday evening at their meeting.

The first day of classes in the fall for K-Grade 9 students in Holton is scheduled for Aug. 18, with the rest of the high school students starting classes the next day on Aug. 19.

Michael Feamster of Nabholz Contruction Company Monday evening provided the Holton school board with an update on the construction of the new elementary school.

“First of all, the construction budget is in really good shape,’’ Feamster said. “As of May 16, there was $360,000 in the district’s contingency construction account, which is a phenomenal place to be at this time.’’

He said structural concrete work and roof work were both 100 percent completed at the new school while miscellaneous steel, drywall, media center and kitchen work were all about 90 percent completed.

“We’ve had nothing but good feedback’’ on the various parts of the construction, Feamster said. “Roof inspectors report no roof leaks – and we’ve had some big rains.’’

“The big milestone’’ of turning on the permanent electrical power to all heating and cooling systems at the new school is coming up soon, he said.

“We are firing on all engines, so to speak,’’ he said.

Epoxy floor finish work is expected to start next week, he said. Carpeting will also be installed soon. All classrooms should be completely finished by the third week of July.

The doors to the new elementary school will not be installed until all of the big pieces of furniture, etc., are installed in the building as a precaution against damaging them, he said.

In other news related to the construction of the new school, the board approved a motion to accept a change order from Nabholz totaling $60,009.69 in funds officially coming back to the district due to the utilization of some federal e-rate funds for the project and a 2 percent decrease in the amount of steel prices realized in the construction.

Feamster said the total amount coming back to the district could increase by about $30,000 more between now and end of the project to total about $90,000.

He also said that actual “hard’’ costs related to the construction budget for the new school were coming in lower than planned, so far by about $288,000.

“We’ve been really lucky, really blessed, to be in this position,’’ he said.

The board discussed the need to have current USD 336 staff trained to handle the heating/cooling/electrical control systems at the new school and to prepare and maintain training materials for future staff also.

Feamster said Nabholz, his company, wants USD 336 to call them for help on any potential problems or issues with the new school that may arise in the future, after construction is over and the keys to the new school are turned over to the district. 

Mike Porter, maintenance director, reported to the board that his staff had moved everything out of the Colorado school in 6 ½ days for storage in the old fair building.

Asbestos abatement work continues at the old Colorado Elementary School next door to the east of the new school, it was reported. Demolition of the old part of Colorado cannot begin until all of the asbestos has been removed.

The board approved a motion to sell about 14 window air conditioning units from the Colorado school.

The old mobile units that were part of the Colorado school campus for so many years have now been removed, Superintendent Dennis Stones reported. 

What to do with the old Central Elementary School that will no longer be needed when the new school is opened was also a topic at Monday’s school board meeting.

Supt. Stones said that although he has not had the Central school property’s value appraised, he said he had learned that the land and building at the Central  school campus was valued by the county at $1,147,660.

“If we were able to sell the property for half of that amount, that would be great,’’ Stones commented.

Stones said that his top priority had been the construction and completion of the new elementary school.

He said the district could rent out the Central school building to YMCA or other similar groups. 

“We need to get started on it and get it listed with a realtor,’’ Stones said. “I think we will have a similar cost involved with asbestos abatement to what we had at the Colorado school.’’

Stones reported that items at Central school have been boxed up but will not be moved until they can be moved directly into the new school.