Planning Team Hears Timeline for School Projects
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Hoffert discussed the building project – approved in a referendum by voters May 5 by a vote of 2,999 to 1,814 – at the team’s annual meeting at the Russell Center, Grace College, Winona Lake. The referendum also included improvements to Washington STEM Academy and Edgewood Middle School. Estimated cost is not to exceed $39.9 million and is estimated to increase the property tax rate for debt service by a maximum of $0.138 per $100 of assessed valuation over the 20 year life of the bonds.
“We’ve got a lot to celebrate. We have an awful lot,” Hoffert told the team.
He said his worst nightmare was coming into the Core Planning Team meeting if the referendum hadn’t passed last week.
“To be honest with you, there were so many times I woke up at night, just thinking, ‘What if our community doesn’t buy into our future plans that we have?’” he said. “Last week, I have got to tell you, it was a huge celebration. It was a huge celebration because not only did our community jump in – a landslide in politics is 55 percent, we were able to have 65 percent of our community sign off on a tax. That doesn’t happen.”
Hoffert said the community was able to look at the needs and solutions and what their share of the impact was going to be, and “our kids are going to be the beneficiaries of it.”
He said Lincoln Elementary needed a new building, Washington is going to be refurbished and Edgewood – which was built as an open-concept school – will have walls go up between classes.
“I don’t even know how to begin to say thank you,” Hoffert said.
After thanking those present who were involved in getting the referendum passed – from former Warsaw Mayor Jeff Plank and school board members Jennifer Tandy and Heather Reichenbach to volunteer coordinators Megan Stone, Debbie Jensen and Shelley Yeager – Hoffert said, “I look around and I don’t see one person who wasn’t somehow involved in what we were able to do. And that’s a celebration. That means that this group is more than just dreamers, that they’re doers in what we do.”
He then shared a few of the next steps in the timeline for the project.
“We have a very tight time frame that we are trying because we can’t get this done fast enough,” he said. “Someone asked me when this should be done, and I said five years ago.”
Hoffert said they’ve already started working with Ice Miller LLP out of Indianapolis getting the bonds in order. He said Jane Herndon, partner with Ice Miller, looked at everything WCS already is doing and said, “You guys are already way ahead of schedule. This is wonderful!”
He said, “We’ll also be working with our school board this next week on a criterion developer. This is the architect that looks at things from a 30,000-foot view. What they do is look at square footage, they look at the number of classrooms, the number of bathrooms, and they don’t design the school but they give the (specifications) for the architects to design the school.”
As soon as the criterion developer is decided on by the board and in place by June or July, Hoffert said the next process will be the Request For Qualifications where companies “pretty much turn in their resumes.”
From that, the school board has a rubric to whittle down their selection to three companies.
The next step after that will be the Request For Proposals where three or four companies put out a lot of money and time in designing what the schools need to look like, Hoffert said. This is where the focus groups will be involved, which will include staff members, students and community members to help decide what’s needed inside the school. That should happen in August and September this year.
“And then all of a sudden, they get that process, they start getting those architectural plans in place, it’s going to be fast and furious. And then our hope is that we’ll have shovels in the ground by October,” Hoffert said.
Over a year later, in January 2017, he said the hope is that they’ll be opening a new Lincoln Elementary.
“And we’ll be able to celebrate what the future looks like inside of our school corporation, and we’re able to celebrate at Washington as well, and we’re be able to celebrate at Edgewood as well. Because we know our community stands directly behind our schools. So we’re very excited about it. Today’s really a day of celebration, from beginning to end,” Hoffert said.[[In-content Ad]]
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Hoffert discussed the building project – approved in a referendum by voters May 5 by a vote of 2,999 to 1,814 – at the team’s annual meeting at the Russell Center, Grace College, Winona Lake. The referendum also included improvements to Washington STEM Academy and Edgewood Middle School. Estimated cost is not to exceed $39.9 million and is estimated to increase the property tax rate for debt service by a maximum of $0.138 per $100 of assessed valuation over the 20 year life of the bonds.
“We’ve got a lot to celebrate. We have an awful lot,” Hoffert told the team.
He said his worst nightmare was coming into the Core Planning Team meeting if the referendum hadn’t passed last week.
“To be honest with you, there were so many times I woke up at night, just thinking, ‘What if our community doesn’t buy into our future plans that we have?’” he said. “Last week, I have got to tell you, it was a huge celebration. It was a huge celebration because not only did our community jump in – a landslide in politics is 55 percent, we were able to have 65 percent of our community sign off on a tax. That doesn’t happen.”
Hoffert said the community was able to look at the needs and solutions and what their share of the impact was going to be, and “our kids are going to be the beneficiaries of it.”
He said Lincoln Elementary needed a new building, Washington is going to be refurbished and Edgewood – which was built as an open-concept school – will have walls go up between classes.
“I don’t even know how to begin to say thank you,” Hoffert said.
After thanking those present who were involved in getting the referendum passed – from former Warsaw Mayor Jeff Plank and school board members Jennifer Tandy and Heather Reichenbach to volunteer coordinators Megan Stone, Debbie Jensen and Shelley Yeager – Hoffert said, “I look around and I don’t see one person who wasn’t somehow involved in what we were able to do. And that’s a celebration. That means that this group is more than just dreamers, that they’re doers in what we do.”
He then shared a few of the next steps in the timeline for the project.
“We have a very tight time frame that we are trying because we can’t get this done fast enough,” he said. “Someone asked me when this should be done, and I said five years ago.”
Hoffert said they’ve already started working with Ice Miller LLP out of Indianapolis getting the bonds in order. He said Jane Herndon, partner with Ice Miller, looked at everything WCS already is doing and said, “You guys are already way ahead of schedule. This is wonderful!”
He said, “We’ll also be working with our school board this next week on a criterion developer. This is the architect that looks at things from a 30,000-foot view. What they do is look at square footage, they look at the number of classrooms, the number of bathrooms, and they don’t design the school but they give the (specifications) for the architects to design the school.”
As soon as the criterion developer is decided on by the board and in place by June or July, Hoffert said the next process will be the Request For Qualifications where companies “pretty much turn in their resumes.”
From that, the school board has a rubric to whittle down their selection to three companies.
The next step after that will be the Request For Proposals where three or four companies put out a lot of money and time in designing what the schools need to look like, Hoffert said. This is where the focus groups will be involved, which will include staff members, students and community members to help decide what’s needed inside the school. That should happen in August and September this year.
“And then all of a sudden, they get that process, they start getting those architectural plans in place, it’s going to be fast and furious. And then our hope is that we’ll have shovels in the ground by October,” Hoffert said.
Over a year later, in January 2017, he said the hope is that they’ll be opening a new Lincoln Elementary.
“And we’ll be able to celebrate what the future looks like inside of our school corporation, and we’re able to celebrate at Washington as well, and we’re be able to celebrate at Edgewood as well. Because we know our community stands directly behind our schools. So we’re very excited about it. Today’s really a day of celebration, from beginning to end,” Hoffert said.[[In-content Ad]]
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