Published: September 11, 2009 08:08 pm      

West Clark construction continues

Board approves more bids, names new school

As the Early Childhood Development Center starts to take shape, West Clark Community Schools decided to give it a new name — Silver Creek Primary School.

The new school will house preschool students through first-grade once it opens in August. There is room to expand the school to include second-grade as well.

Those students will come from Silver Creek Elementary School, which will become a second- through fifth-grade school once the new building is complete, according to Principal David Losey.

The $8.5 million project started this summer. So far, the concrete has been poured and the steel frames have been set up.

Joe Basham, board member, also announced that the district is officially looking for a principal to take over the new school. He said the district is accepting applications.

This school is much needed for the area, Superintendent Monty Schneider said.

“We’re bursting at the seams over here,” he said previously about Silver Creek Elementary.



AWARDING BIDS

The board also awarded a number of bids for various construction projects at its Thursday meeting.

The bid for partial reroofing projects at Silver Creek High School as well as for the Borden and Henryville campuses went to Insulated Roofing Contractors, of New Albany, for $236,777.

The board rebid the project for the football field improvements at SCHS, because of the first set of submissions being out of the board’s budget. The total this time came in at $294,070 for three separate bid packages.

AML, of Floyd Knobs, won the bid at $58,542 to do the bleacher pad. Louisville’s Woodbine Construction was awarded the its bid at $166,350 to do the bleachers that will seat 900 people as well as a press box. The bid for field lighting and power for the press box was awarded to Star Electric, of New Albany, for $69,178.

The outside of the administration building also is getting a facelift, with a new roof overlay, siding, windows, gutters, overhead doors in the garage, exterior doors and lighting. The cost of the project is $259,000. The bid went to Louisville’s Versatile Construction.

All three high schools in the district also will get their tracks resurfaced and new bleachers. The bleachers will cost $196,470. The tracks will cost $111,620.



FINDING AN ALTERNATIVE

Kovert Hawkins Michell Timperman Ritz Architects also presented the board with a proposed plan for a new site for the district’s alternative school.

The district has purchased a home near the main entrance to the administration building and SCHS. The plan showed the cost to renovate the home would be $250,000 for 1,941 square feet, which breaks down to $128 per square foot.

Building a new school in that location would cost $525,000 in construction fees for 3,902 square feet, or $135 per square foot.

Schneider said the board is exploring this possibility since it is too costly to renovate the old Sellersburg Elementary School, which houses the alternative school now. He said it is too early to say whether renovating or building new would be better.



SETTING THE BUDGET

The board had a formal hearing on the 2010 budget, which is estimated to be $37,474,304.

The 2009 budget was about $35.2 million. The board will vote on the budget at its next meeting, which is set for Oct. 8 at the Borden campus.