School district eyes possible scaled-down project

Conceptual plan includes classroom, office additions, remodeling at high school

A proposal to renovate the high school to expand technology education, increase security, meet office space needs and remodel outdated classrooms would carry an estimated price tag of $29.5 million.

Representatives from Findorff and Plunkett Raysich Architects (PRA) presented the draft proposal at Monday’s meeting of the Medford School Board at the request of the district to see what the potential would be to address the top identified high school needs from the survey done in Spring 2020.

The most significant change between this proposal and the plan that was soundly rejected by voters last spring, is that it does not include any additional theater or gym space.

The proposal presented last spring had a projected cost of $39.9 million. However Brian Malich of Findorff noted that based on current material costs, that project would have an estimated cost of about $42.5 million as originally proposed.

District administrator Pat Sullivan supported raising the discussion on a referendum project at the high school noting that the issues and needs aren’t going away. He said they started with looking at the project from the last referendum and taking off the gym and theater to see what impact that would have. In addition, the conceptual project calls for adding a new access road to connect the elementary school to CTH Q to improve access and relieve congestion on Hwy 64 before and after school.

According to Malich, the gym and theater portions of the previous plan accounted for $13.5 million of the costs. He noted it would be about $14.4 million in today’s dollars. Malich noted there was not a direct savings with eliminating those items because the previous plan had called for converting the existing Red/White Theatre into library space, with the theatre to stay where it is other work would have to be done elsewhere. In addition, the cost of the access road adds about $700,000 to the project. Malich cautioned that his projections were simply estimates at this point, noting they could go up or down by about 5%.

The proposal was presented for information only at Monday’s meeting with no action taken about if, or when the district would go to voters for a referendum. The district would have to decide by January 2022 if they wanted to bring the request to voters on the April ballot or if they wanted to wait another year.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Fred Ebert spoke against even considering any projects at this time noting there was still some resentment in the community that it was brought back the way it was last spring. Ebert opposed the district adding any more square footage to the building until it is able to maintain the facilities that it already has.

The project calls for adding about 46,000 square feet to the high school primarily in the science and technology areas and classroom addition proposed for the south of the building.

During the regular portion of the meeting, board president Dave Fleegel explained that there was never a question of if the board was able to maintain the high school. He said reason for lumping several years worth of capital projects into the referendum last time was to take advantage of savings in order to do them all at one time rather than tearing something up only to come back and tear the same area up a few years later to do a different project.

Malich agreed noting there were many efficiencies gained by reducing mobilization costs of doing the projects when crews are there and working.

Board member Don Everhard questioned the scope of so-called security upgrades in the office area and if that was also including other things.

Architect Molly Ryan of PRA explained that the current entrance to the high school includes a locked door that enters into a hallway which allows access to the entire school. As proposed during the school day visitors in the future would be buzzed into a vestibule and then buzzed into the office area and then buzzed a third time to be able to access the rest of the building. However, she did note that much of the changes in the office deal with meeting needs for office space especially in regard to student confi dentiality needs.

Sullivan noted that one of the moving pieces in this version of the proposal has to do with collaboration spaces. The current plan calls for the same amount of collaboration space as the previous plans did, but he noted that could be adjusted to reduce overall costs.

Sullivan noted that collaboration is something employers in the area are looking at for new workers and the district is looking at ways to provide the space needed not only in technological eduction areas but in subjects like math, English, social studies and science. High school principal Jill Lybert agreed noting those spaces will allow for more project- based learning to take place.

Erika Freeman gave the example from her own workplace at Findorff where they have added to the building in order to create additional conference rooms and places for collaboration to take place.

Fleegel noted that ultimately it is a matter of being able to deliver education in a more modern model. “We want to alter the way education is delivered at the high school for the next 30 years,” he said.

Board member Brian Hallgren expressed frustration that the previous plans were unable to happen. He noted he has grandchildren who are nine and six years old and he would like to see them be able to have updated learning spaces. “It is crazy to lose opportunities,” he said.

No action was taken on either proceeding or stopping work on the project. It will be brought back for consideration at a future meeting.

Concession Stand

A final piece to the Raider Field renovation project is coming into place. Board members approved committing up to $340,000 from fund balance to go toward the construction of a new bathroom/concession building at the field. The building will be built off plans approved by the state in 2019 with site preparation work to begin in Spring 2022 with the extension of utilities and the pouring of a slab with the goal that by next fall, students in the technology education classes will as a class project do the physical construction of the steel building.

According to Sullivan, the work would take most of the school year with the students doing exterior in the fall and the interior work during the winter months. The hope is that it could be in use by spring 2023.

In addition to the funds being committed by the school district, the All Sports Booster Club has about $60,000 in funds raised from when the field turf was installed that is earmarked to go toward the concession stand and field entrance project.

Buildings and grounds supervisor Dave Makovsky noted that while many people think of it as a concession stand it is much more than that. He said the building will include 10 stalls for each of the men’s and women’s bathrooms as well as a store area and main concession area. The number of bathrooms is dictated by the capacity of the bleachers.

Sullivan said it will be nice for the Medford School district to not have to rely on having porta potties at events held at the field. He noted that it is very rare to see them at other schools that host events and that while for some people having them is not a big deal, he did not think that was an image the district wanted to portray.

In other business, board members:

_ Received an update on the grant process to apply for a storm shelter “dome” structure at the school. If approved, the federal grant would cover the cost of two-thirds of the structure with the district looking to raise the remaining costs through community fundraising and donations rather than going to taxpayers. During public comment Ebert has also spoken against the dome noting that even with federal dollars it ultimately comes back to taxpayers.

_ Received public comment from district parent Mary Kahn. Kahn is a teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Colby and questioned why the school did not report class rank. She noted that her daughter has missed out on scholarship opportunities because she is unable to list her class rank. She said they chose to come to Medford school because it had a reputation for pushing its students academically. She said by not having class rankings the district fails at that. She compared having class ranks to sports such as cross country where the best athletes earn a spot to compete regardless of anything else. “Where is the trophy for academics,” she said. “Medford took that away from our students.”

_ Approved, despite Fleegel’s no vote, a policy change to allow the RVA to work with entities other than public school districts and to create an additional level of contracted services for schools to utilize the RVA. Fleegel said he felt it needed more discussion. He suggested that if schools wanted to have access to the content at the RVA, they should join the consortium as a member.