Elk County Forum

Why Do We Need a New Grade School?


Education:

Providing a combined facility that meets the needs of the 21st century learning environment, we can continue the superior education of USD 282.  We can refocus resources to add more diverse classes and technology at grade school and high school levels rather than inefficient building upkeep.

Financial:

To maintain the long-term viability of the district, we must address the issue now!  We can no longer ignore it.  The State Department continues to make large budget cuts that can no longer be absorbed locally.  Interest rates are lower now than they've been in years, and we must be as efficient as possible so we can control our own destiny.  State Aid is now available at 29%, may not be available in the future.  Let's look towards the future of our district!

Unity:
   
United we stand, divided we fall.  If we unite the district, we can unite the communities.  We are a much better group together than apart.  Our towns have a lot to be proud of so let's stabilize our district and move forward.  An attractive, modern school promotes economic growth, brings young families to our towns, and provides a positive promotional asset.

Our Kids:
                                                                   on 11-3-09                                                                     

It was good to see such a large delegation of parents and kids marching in the Severy parade, all decked out in red to show their support for the school bond issue.

I think it says a lot when so many folks in Severy support the concept.

Pictures are worth a thousand words......I don't know about graphics.

Front door

That's very nice looking.

How much would you pay for a building such as this?

It would depend on the square footage and whether it's an as built (design build) with ordinary construction.

Out there if you are careful, you should probably come in at around 150.00 /sq. foot I'd guess. Anything special on site development? Around here, drainage, retention basins etc. can really add up.

Current proposal is less than 30,000sq ft.  Construction manager is on board with not to exceed $5.5million.  For the building with classrooms, FEMA structure gym, and common spaces.

Quote from: pepelect on September 08, 2009, 09:34:16 PM
Current proposal is less than 30,000sq ft.  Construction manager is on board with not to exceed $5.5million.  For the building with classrooms, FEMA structure gym, and common spaces.

Better tack on an additional 2 -3 million for budget overruns!  Never saw a school that ever was built  on budget.

That is the beauty of the already designed and have a bid from the construction manager before we go to the public for the funding part of this scenario.   If it cost more the CM picks up the excess.   It is basicly a design build with a not to exceed cap.  The prelim is completed.  The guess work and budget issues are not the districts baby.  We just supply the funds and they construct. 


Vote Nov 3...


................A Yes will enable generations of our kids an equal playing field at college.

Steve,

Then you've never seen one built in Benton or Washington County, Arkansas.  Most of the recently built schools down here actually came in under-budget.  That's the nature of design-build, you have a very good estimate of the costs before you ask for the bond issue instead of being surprised when it goes out to bid.  Low-bids almost always lead to cost over-runs, because they scrimped in the original bid just to get it, then add in all the "over-runs" as change orders.

Patrick,

Costs down here have run in the $127 -145/sq. ft. range for schools built since 2003.  Fayetteville is getting ready for a bond election for a completely new high school campus, that has already been referred to as a Taj Mahal.  They are going design-build at around $161/sq. ft.  But of course this is for a 500,000+ sq. ft. multi-building campus to be built on same site as the old, with no interruption in classes.