ASHLAND – In a presentation to Ashland City Schools board members Monday, John Kirkpatrick, a partner at Hammond Construction, outlined the scope, budget and timeline for upcoming renovations at Ashland High School.
As the construction manager at risk on the project, Hammond will be responsible for hiring contractors and delivering the project to the district’s specifications within a guaranteed maximum price.
The total guaranteed maximum price of $9,954,862 includes about $9.6 million for construction work, plus $324,600 for Hammond’s fee and $48,000 for contingencies.
Set to be completed in 2019 and 2020, the project includes system upgrades to both the electrical and HVAC systems in the building; replacement of certain ceilings, floors, light fixtures and windows; and renovated kitchen and cafeteria spaces.
The high school’s existing electrical equipment will be replaced, and voltage will be upgraded from 4,160 volts to 12,470 volts. A new,two pipe water source heat pump system will upgrade the heating and add air conditioning throughout the building.
“As we’re doing both those two components, we’re going to be going through and tearing out all the corridor ceilings… It will be a full replacement of all corridor ceilings on the first floor with (LED) lighting also,” Kirkpatrick said.
Windows will be replaced on the first and second floors of the math and social studies wing as well as in the cafeteria, and flooring will be replaced in each of the building’s classrooms.
The kitchen will receive new equipment, flooring, ceiling, lighting and interior doors.
“Really it’s going to be an all new kitchen, and the cafeteria will get completely redone also with terrazzo flooring, new windows all around and new furniture throughout the space,” Kirkpatrick said.
Referred to by Hammond and district leaders as a “learning cafe,” the new cafeteria is designed to be more versatile than a traditional cafeteria. It will feature a greater variety of furniture, such as booths and round tables in addition to rectangular tables.
District superintendent Doug Marrah said the learning cafe may be used outside lunch periods for things like student presentations or group work on class projects.
This summer, contractors will complete the electrical upgrade and install the new HVAC main lines. They will also remove hallway ceiling tiles and flooring in the kitchen and classrooms.
As the electrical upgrades take place at the high school, field house and community stadium this summer, there will be some planned power outages at the high school. Marrah said high school staff likely will be relocated to the middle school during those outage periods. Power will remain on in Archer Auditorium.
During the 2019-2020 school year, contractors will upgrade HVAC equipment and replace flooring in classrooms, working in sections of approximately four classrooms at a time. Classrooms will be out of commission for about two weeks while the work is completed, and Hammond will work with district and building administrators to create a schedule that works for the school.
In summer 2020, Hammond will tackle the kitchen and cafeteria and finish up classroom work.
District leaders plan to add science area, media center and music wing renovations to the project but have not yet defined a scope and budget for those portions of the renovation. Additional classroom upgrades including new furniture are also being considered.
The project will be funded entirely with local dollars but without an increase in taxes.
Board member Bryan Lefelhoc said district leaders chose not to go through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to complete the renovation project. He said while the state likely would have co-funded the renovation as an OFCC project, district leaders would have had less flexibility in the design process had they accepted state funding.
Also at Monday’s board meeting, the board held its first required public hearing on the retire/rehire of Latin teacher Bonnie Graves and special education teacher Melanie Pheifer. District leaders plan to rehire both teachers on a part-time basis following their retirement.
Marrah said the district will be phasing out the high school Latin program upon Graves’ retirement. Students in Latin III this year can finish out Latin IV next year, and students in Latin II may move on to Latin III, but underclassmen will no longer have the option to take Latin I and Latin II.
