Abbotsford K-12 reconsiders dome design

For months, the Abbotsford School District has been discussing a multipurpose dome; however, after Monday’s monthly board of education meeting, that structure might be changing shape, into a more traditional structure.

Superintendent Ryan Bargender told the board that HSR Associates, the engineering firm in charge of the project, is “pretty confident that a traditional building would cost less because of competition.”

“There’s really only two companies that can build a dome structure; therefore, they can kind of charge what they want because there’s not all these other companies bidding on the same project,” he said.

Bargender said HSR will proceed with side-by-side sets of plans: the dome and a traditional storm shelter. Jordan Buss of JBAD Solutions will be contacting FEMA, which is providing 75 percent of the funding, regarding the plans.

“They were pretty confident that a traditional building would be approved,” Bargender said. “It’s in the same location, it’s the same footprint, and it will still meet FEMA specifications.”

This comes after the facilities committee spoke with HSR during its July 13 meeting, and found that a dome will likely come with a higher price tag than previously anticipated.

“Budget was kind of another big ticket item,” Bargender told the board. “The ballpark estimate provided by HSR was potentially $2 million higher than what we initially anticipated,” he said. “Some of that is due to escalated construction costs. Now that they have a better idea of the potential rooms we would be needing, we’re going to bring back a better number to the August 3 facility meeting.” If the project should cost more than previously anticipated, Ashley Dake, the district’s finance manager, informed the board that the district has just over $1 million dollars in unspent funds.

That extra money comes from a variety of factors, such as savings on travel expenses, more experienced teachers retiring who were on the upper end of the pay scale, and from federal COVID-19 relief.

Bargender said the district was able to use ESSER II funds to purchase things the district had already planned for, such as new Chromebooks, updates to the HVAC system, and also using the relief funds to pay for some teacher salaries, since Wednesdays were entirely virtual.

The board will place that surplus money into the district’s Fund 46 account, which the district can begin to access in July of 2022. Bargender said they could also use that extra money to help pay off the pool loan.

Other business

_ The board accepted the resignations of assistant football coach Ramon Aguilera, 4K teacher Kyncaide Keefe, JV basketball coach Ean Rau and middle school boys basketball coach Ethan Kramas.

_ The board approved a motion to hire Markia Smith as middle school/high school mathematics teacher, Grace Schilling as a middle school/high school ELA teacher, and Joshua Tumm and Cassie Rudolph as elementary teachers.

_ Bargender said construction on the pool is scheduled to begin in a few weeks, and will be completed by December of this year (see page 8 for more details).

_ There will be a joint board meeting with the Colby School Board will take place on July 27 at 6 p.m. in Colby.

_ Back to school night will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 25 at 4 p.m.