Contingency funds are now available for school design

Construction of the new Holton Elementary School for grades pre-K through 5 has reached the point now that owner and construction contingency funds, held back intentionally to cover any foreseen geographic problems, can now be released to build the new school the way it was originally designed.

The good news was shared Monday evening at the school board meeting.

Additional good news shared included the report that through parent surveys and meetings it has been determined that there is enough interest to start up a new four-day community preschool program in the district for 3 and 4-year-olds when the new school is built.

Michael Feamster, new project engineer on the Holton new school project, and Gregg Scholtens, construction manager for Nabholz Kansas projects, met with the Holton school board Monday evening to give an update of the project.

Feamster, it has been reported, has been on the job for a few months now and recently took over for the previous project manager, who resigned.

Supt. Dennis Stones also informed the board of progress on the new school project.

Feamster said the construction of the new school is going great with a lot of concrete being poured. The next pour will be at the site of the new gym area. A lot of stud framing is also taking place at this time.

The second of three stairways will be constructed this month also, Feamster said, and a lot of beautiful brick work is now going up over waterproofed (pink) walls.

The roof for the new school also will be constructed in the next week or so with roof completion scheduled for late January.

“It will soon start looking like the building it’s supposed to be,’’ Feamster said.

Scholtzens said the budget for the new school is in “fantastic shape.’’ 

“Not a dime of owner or construction contingency funds has needed to be spent,’’ Scholtzens said. 

Stones said there was about $700,000 in owner and construction contingency funds that had been set aside intentionally to cover any unforeseen subsurface geographic problems. 

“Before we got started we value engineered the project and determined what we could trim from the project to save that amount of money in case of an emergency,’’ Stones said. “At the time, we decided to make certain features alternate plans that we could possibly add on at a later date. We’re coming out of the ground with the contingency funds intact. Now we can add back on some of the original plans that were designed for the new school.’’

Scholtens and Stones suggested three or four areas that the school board might decide to address as upgrades:

*Better flooring options such as epoxy flooring replacing vinyl tile.

*Widening sidewalks at the new campus to 8 ft. wide where they had been trimmed to 5 ft. wide.

*Installing additional 36’’ high x 12’’ deep wall cabinets in 30 clasasrooms above lockers.

*Moving, modifying, wiring and re-installing the Central school outdoor sign at the new school or purchasing a new sign.

Board members discussed some of the ideas and then said they would like to see drawings and mock-ups from Nabholz of what is being proposed and exactly where it was being purposed. Nabholz reps said they can do that.

In another matter regarding the new school, board members gave the OK to solicit bids for third-party HVAC commissioning. Stones said the work could cost as much as $50,000 but would be well worth the expense.

It was explained that in a third-party HVAC commissioning, a qualified company not associated with the engineering or construction firms is hired by the school district to ensure that the heating and air condioning systems for the new school are installed properly and are working properly. The best time to hire such a qualified third-party company is in the pre-construction phase, school officials said.

The school board is expected to decide at its next meeting in January whether the district will start up new community pre-school program next year when the new school is completely finished.

Stones said two classrooms in the new school would be devoted to the new four-day-a-week community preschool program for 3 and 4-year-olds. 

He said parent surveys and meeting revealed that there is interest for about 15 to 17 preschool children to be enrolled in the new program initially – enough for one half-day session.

The cost to the district for one full class (which would consist of a morning session with 15 to 17 kids and an afternoon session with about 15 to 17 different kids) would be about $30,000, Stones said, to cover the cost of one teacher and one paraprofessional, transportation and a snack for the kids.

The cost of tuition per child would be about $130 per month, it was reported, if enough kids for one full class (about 30 to 34 kids) were enrolled.

The Holton Special Education Cooperative currently offers early childhood education in the Holton district. There has not been any available space in the district for it to offer a community preschool program.

Stones said that by adding a new community preschool program, 3 and 4-year-olds who need only some special instruction – such as in speech and language development – could be instructed other times in the least restricted environment (LRE) that the community preschool would offer.

“What it will do is help us to better served those little kids,’’ Stones said.

Scholarship opportunities and grants are also being explored for the community preschool.

Stones added that the Holton Special Education Cooperative specialists in the early childhood program would continue to work with Lollipop Lane, Head Start and Faith Academy also.