Renovation work accelerating at Stanton

Work is beginning to progress more quickly on the renovation project at the Stanton School District.
Stanton Superintendent David Gute said after months and months of pre-planning, seeing the drastic demolition work underway has driven home that things are truly happening.
“I was excited to see demolition begin and the dirt moving shortly after school was out. It really made the project feel real. This is a project our community voted for because they recognized the importance of improving the safety and security of our building. In addition to those improvements, we’re making HVAC upgrades in several areas, including adding air conditioning to the gym. We’ll also be making ADA improvements to the high school restrooms, along with several other updates that will benefit students, staff, and visitors,” said Gute.
Gute also shared an update on the status of the project itself.
“In our office area, at this point, they have everything demoed. And by the end of last week, they had sheetrock up on one side of the wall. They’ve only done one side because they still don’t have the wiring laid out, so the sheetrock won’t be on both sides of the walls at this point,” advised Gute.
In the exterior, Gute said the crews were looking at doing something with the recently moved monument at the front of the building.
“I haven’t seen a design yet, but there’s discussion regarding the monument sign that the school board has talked about. They’re thinking by the other rock out in front of the building. I’ve made it clear to them that we’re not very picky on the overall design,” commented Gute.
Gute added that he’s been pleased with the progress of the project so far.
“I attend a construction meeting every week, and the contractor has consistently told me that the renovation portion of the project will be completed before school starts. They’re telling me, in the big picture, that they’re on time right now, and on time in getting the spaces completed at all the groups and all the teachers need to get back into. Now, is that the day before school starts? Is that two weeks? I’m not certain at this point. They’re telling me they’ll have it ready a week out. I think the thing that we have to think about is on the timing of materials or equipment. One delay on something getting in and it could slow us down significantly, but that hasn’t happened yet. But right now, we’re focusing on the demolition, and as long as the saws are working, and the sledgehammers are working. we’re on time. Up to this point, they’re saying we’re on time on everything. I just don’t know the time frame of when we get done. If you looked at the project today, you might wonder how that will happen, but I believe they’ll have most of the space ready. There will likely be some punch-list items that will need to be finished after school begins.”
If there was a delay in getting classrooms or offices in place, Gute said they did have some options.
“We could utilize the STEM room if we had to. I don’t need to have an office here. I can make it work short term. You could have administrators in there and utilize partitions. Or if we needed space for teaching, there’s enough space in the STEM room that we could run a couple classes out of the room if we had to, and we could use the cafeteria that we’re currently using for our board meetings for study halls. There are options if we needed them,” explained Gute.  I don’t think preschool starts until after Labor Day, but if we needed something for that, we could maybe ask one of the churches up the hill for temporary space, if needed. The new addition is currently scheduled for completion at the end of January. We’ll continue to monitor its progress throughout the rest of the summer and fall.”
As with any project, Gute said there were a couple of items that needed to be addressed.
“We have done two change orders so far. The dirt would not compact the way they needed it to in front of the elementary, so they had to haul dirt out. That was about $12,000to haul dirt out and haul dirt back in. As far as the bathrooms, one of the walls wasn’t structurally sound, so they thought about tying it into the other one, but then they thought it would be better to pull them down. They’ve demoed some wall in the back of the restrooms here, and they’re going to put drywall back up on the back here. That was around $8,000 at the beginning of the demo, and when you add in the additional dirt work, we’re at around $20,000 in change orders, and I think we had a contingency of about $135,000 or so. It’s hard to know what else will come up, but a lot of it seems to happen when we’re tearing stuff apart, and we’re almost done with that,” said Gute. “Change orders are common with a project of this size, but nothing has had a significant impact on the budget or caused more than a day or so of delay.”
Gute said work is also underway in the gymnasium as well.
“They’re working on the east wall. Ductwork will be put on the east wall and then it will be moved across the ceiling. It won’t be below the tie ceiling, there will be vests cut into the ceiling, and the air will be forced from the east wall. Plans are to get the duct work in soon, and then install the unit, but there will be no air conditioning in the fall probably,” Gute advised.
Gute added that once all the work is completed, the renovations will vastly improve the student/instructor experience.
“These renovations will have a positive impact on both students and staff every day. The improved safety and security features will help create a more secure learning environment. The HVAC upgrades, including air conditioning in the gym, will make our facilities much more comfortable, especially during warmer months. The updated restrooms and renovated learning spaces will provide a more accessible, modern, and functional environment that better supports teaching and learning. These improvements are an investment in our students, our staff, and our community for many years to come,” Gute said.
At Stanton’s recent school board meeting on July 7, the board approved a resolution directing an advertisement for sale of not to exceed $5.325 million in general obligation school bond series 2006, approving electronic bidding procedures, and approving the official statement.
“The board found it advisable and necessary that bonds authorized at election be offered for sale to a purpose authorized at the election. The board deemed it in the best interest of the school district and the residents thereof to receive bids to purchase such general obligations school bonds by means of both sealed and electronic internet communication,” Gute explained. “Additionally, the board has received information from its principal advisor recommending the procedure for electronic bidding so as to provide for the integrity of the competitive bidding process and to facilitate the delivery of bids by interested parties.”
Also approved at that meeting was a financial agreement with Piper Sandler for the general obligation bond financing.
“We had to approve this agreement. They’re helping us put all the documents together. We had a conference call with S&P Global, and they gave us a rating that goes out to the potential investors on buying our bond. We could sell this $5.3 million all in one shot and say we have it all ready, but Piper Sandler advised us that  we should sell the majority of them the first time, but save a little bit back because we have one year that we have to have our money spent. We’ve been advised to wait to sell the rest of the bonds between three and five months from now,” Gute said.
Another agreement passed by the board was for secondary market disclosure.
“Every year, because we’re going into this selling bonds, and it’s over a million bucks, we have to disclose to the SEC. They have to get an audit of this every year. Piper Sandler will help us put this together every year, and the agreement was for Piper Sandler to go ahead and put that together for us. They’ll do everything, but they’ll have to contact us for some additional information in order to complete it,” stated Gute. “The agreement the board approved is for $2,000 per year for the length of our bond. It’s something we are obligated to do, we have to file this report every year, and Piper sandler will then do it on our behalf. This is a 20-year agreement with Piper, unless we pay those bonds off early.”
Gute shared a final message with the students and residents of the Stanton District as the project continues.
“We appreciate the patience and support of our students, staff, parents, and community as we work through the temporary inconveniences. In the end, these improvements will provide a safer, more comfortable, and more functional school that everyone can be proud of.”