VWCS board OKs Jefferson bid documents

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A special meeting was held Wednesday to approve construction documents related to the second step in Van Wert City Schools’ elementary facility project.

Board of Education members unanimously approved the documents, which deal with the renovation of Jefferson Elementary School into a pre-kindergarten/kindergarten building this year. Superintendent Ken Amstutz explained to board members that, while the documents still needed tweaking before bids can be sought on the project, they are complete enough to allow the process to move forward and for the project to remain on schedule.

Once minor changes are made to the documents, Amstutz told board members, bids documents will be prepared and bids sought, beginning February 8. Bids should be opened in early March, he added.

Like the new grades 1-5 elementary building now under construction, bid estimates for the Jefferson renovation project were initially over budget — about $600,000, in fact — but architectural firm Beilharz & Associates has removed some items originally included in the project, action that has lowered the project so that is now approximately $25,000 under budget.

Some of the items removed, such as restrooms in kindergarten classrooms, would likely be brought back in as alternates and completed as part of the project if money is available during the renovation process to pay for them. Amstutz said he expected several items to be completed as part of the project.

The Ohio School Facilities Commission limits how much a project can exceed estimates during the bidding process.

As plans now stand, the renovation project would begin around June 1 and would be completed in time for students to return to Jefferson after the Christmas break.

That’s about four months after the new elementary school is completed. Plans are for students in grades 1-5 to start the 2012-2013 school year in the new facility, while pre-kindergartners and kindergartners would be housed in the Washington Elementary School building until renovations are completed at Jefferson.

“We have enough space in the Washington building,” Amstutz noted. “That is where the pre-K/K classes will go from September to December.”

The reason for the later start on Jefferson, the superintendent noted, is because relatively little work will be done to the existing elementary building to transform it into a pre-kindergarten/kindergarten building. Basically, most of the work on Jefferson, Amstutz told the board, would be to the 1960s-era portion of the building.

After the Jefferson renovation is complete, the superintendent said, Washington will be torn down and Franklin likely sold, at this point. While Amstutz did admit the Washington building was in better physical shape than Washington, Franklin’s location is better for The Salvation Army, which has evinced interest in buying that school property.

The discussion concerning the likely demolition of Washington also resulted in some talk of where school children would be picked up after that elementary school is torn down.

The superintendent said Jubilee and Smiley parks would both likely have bus shelters at that point, also eliminating the need to use the former Horace Mann School (now Liberty Baptist Church) as a bus pick-up point, but Amstutz stressed that bus schedule details have not yet been worked out.