Warsaw School Board Hears Renovation Proposals of $110M
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
As part of the facilities assessment the Warsaw School Board tasked Kovert Hawkins Architects with, Kovert came up with a “vision” of what Warsaw needs to do and could do with its facilities to improve them.
If all the suggestions were approved, the price tag would be approximately $110,565,000 for construction and soft costs of 30 percent, according to Kovert.
The cost covers items like creating a new facility for an OrthoWorx Senior STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Academy; additions to Warsaw Community High School and Warsaw Area Career Center; and demolishing Edgewood Middle School then building on to Washington Elementary to create a K-8 OrthoWorx Junior STEM Academy.
The full architect’s report will be posted online today at http://www.warsaw.k12.in.us according to Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz this morning.
“The board received a lot of information to review, discuss and share with the community. We are involved in determining the next steps with the community,” he added.
During the school board public work session Tuesday afternoon, Hintz said the board on June 25 awarded Kovert the bid for the facilities assessment for $74,000. There was a tight deadline to get it done, but it was completed by early September.
The four-part study is extensive, Hintz said, covering every building, site and piece of land Warsaw Community Schools owns.
The “vision” being presented by Kovert Hawkins, Hintz claimed, was not that of the board’s, superintendent’s or school corporation’s, but Kovert’s.
James Lake, AIA, and Matthew D. Gullo, landscape architect and urban planner, Kovert Hawkins, presented the hundreds of pages of the assessment in two hours.
“There’s lots of meat here,” Lake said. “We assessed your facility and how to correct them and to give you a bold vision of where to go.”
The four parts of the assessment included an engineer’s report, enrollment forecast, architect’s report and a project prioritization.
The engineer’s report is an analytical evaluation of the physical conditions of the facilities, Lake said. It looks at every one of the 16 WCS buildings from windows and doors to roofs and interiors.
Not going into detail about the enrollment report, Lake said, “The gist of that report is that your birth rate is flat. It tells us you’re not going to grow your school corporation from within. You have to capture (students) another way.”
The most in-depth part of the study is the architect’s report. It provides for what needs addressing at each school and building and what WCS could do to improve it.
The school district just built new Madison and Leesburg elementary schools, and renovated and expanded Jefferson and Claypool elementaries. Those were completed in late 2010 for about $60 million. The architect report reviews those but doesn’t make too many suggestions for them.
For Kovert’s suggestions, Lake said no land would have to be acquired as WCS has all the land needed.
The report lumps WCHS, WACC, Washington Elementary, Edgewood Middle School and the Central Education Services into a “campus.”
Kovert’s report suggests additional parking will be needed, accesss needs addressed and the central office should be relocated as it creates an awkward entry off Ind. 15. Edgewood and Washington could be consolidated into an OrthoWorx Junior STEM Academy, which also would free up space on the campus.
At WCHS and WACC, Kovert suggested relocating the varsity baseball field, adding a new fieldhouse onto the Tiger Den so the WACC could make use of the Career Center gym, and adding the Senior STEM Academy.
Lake said WCHS and the WACC is at 139 percent of its capacity.
Edgewood was built in 1975, but has not been touched since, Lake said. It’s at 98 percent capacity.
To bring Edgewood up to current standards and needs, Lake said the cost would exceed building a new one.
The central office is an attractive facility, Lake said, but they believe its “seriously in the wrong spot.” By moving it, it would expand Warsaw’s educational opportunities on the campus and would be less expensive than moving other buildings, Lake said.
Eisenhower and Harrison elementaries both were built in 1991.
Lake said Eisenhower, which is at 82 percent capacity, is easily expandable on the sides and to the rear if needed. The biggest issue with both schools are the kitchens and cafeterias.
Even after redistricting this year, Harrison already is at 101 percent capacity.
“Harrison never seems to stop bringing kids to Harrison,” Lake said.
Jefferson also is over capacity at 110 percent.
“The solutions are to, one, take some kids out of that building or , two, relocate the special education program to another building. It’s a difficult program to move. I’m not advocating you move the program, but I see you have two options,” he said.
“Lincoln (Elementary) is definitely your most in-need building,” Lake said.
Built in 1959 with additions in 1977, Lake said Lincoln was at 97 percent capacity.
“It suffers from everything an aged building suffers from,” he said.
Kovert’s suggestion is to build a new two-story Lincoln where the field on the property is now, and tear down the current school building.
“Lincoln has a lot of infrastructure problems,” Lake said. “It’s better financially to replace it.”
The Gateway Education Center is the former Madison School and now serves as the alternative learning school. It was built in 1954, with a gym added in 1998. Suggestions for it include updating the front of the school and adding parking.
Lakeview Middle School is the former high school, and is only at 54 percent capacity. Lake said it has “fantastic” space, but lacks “spaces of today.”
There are no needs at the transportation building, but the maintenance building is on a tight piece of property. Lake recommended the facility be replaced at some point.
The fourth part of the study, project prioritization, lists all of the suggestions and their estimated costs. The largest individual costs are demolishing Edgewood and building a new K-8 STEM Academy for $24 million, and replacing Lincoln for $18 million.
“Everything on the list is something you need to be talking about right now,” Lake said.
“Wow, that’s bold,” Dan Metzger, board secretary, stated about the assessment.
“You didn’t hire us to keep you in the box,” Lake responded.
