ROCSD facilities projects outlined
The start of the new year has brought more progress when it comes to the Red Oak School District’s plans for remodeling the district’s buildings and reducing the number of campuses.
The Red Oak School Board agreed to pursue a plan for a two-campus, $34 million renovation at its Dec. 12 meeting.
At a special meeting of the steering committee last Wednesday, Daric O’Neal with Alley Poyner Macchietto Architects, as well as Boyd Jones representatives Mark Pfister, George Schuler, and Nate Bledsoe, gave a detailed overview of what those plans will entail.
Inman Primary:
Inman Primary had a large list of improvements slated as part of an effort to grow the campus to a pre-K through sixth grade facility.
Among the improvements are parking lot expansions, a drop off point and steps to improve the circulation of traffic, classroom additions, a music/stage addition, remodeled entrance, expanded cafeteria space, fire sprinklers throughout the campus, a new roof, and an administrative addition and renovation.
The high school
The list of projects at the high school was just as extensive as those for Inman, in an effort to grow the high school campus to a 7-12 grades facility. Projects slated for the high school included a complete mechanical replacement and remodel of the boiler piping, as well as boiler work, asbestos abatement, new lighting and ceiling remodels, a new roof, sprinklers, a music addition, a kitchen expansion, and a competition gym. Also, a connecting link would be added between the high school and the tech center.
All the projects were part of a baseline scope of the project, and other renovations and additions are possible depending on available funding, including a wrestling room at the high school, storage off the east end of the auditorium, and a locker room addition on Inman Funding was earmarked for the demolition of the Webster and middle school buildings. Leaving off a new roof at the high school would save $625,000, and reducing the competition gym to a practice gym saved $425,000.
All the participants of the meeting were invited to take part in a survey, which Schuler said would be instrumental moving forward.
“There’s a lot of things you’ll have to prioritize, and determine what is in the base project that you wish weren’t there, and what are some of the things as alternatives that you’d like to see in the base portion of the project,” Schuler said.
Clint Rubey, who was in the audience, expressed fears that delays in getting a bond issue passed for the project would cause a reduction in what the district could do.
“In the past, we’ve had bond issues that take 10 or more years to pass. I’m thinking about the bond issue that was passed for a new swimming pool, and then in the end we don’t get it because of the added costs. I’d like to see Red Oak make a step forward, and instead of just crawling along and barely getting something that is obsolete in two years,” Rubey said.
Susan Carlson said she favored seeking opinions from teachers, students, and administrators should weigh in on what they needed.
“When they voted on the initial school in 1969, they did so five times, before we got the school we have. Every time they voted on it, another piece of the project was lost. Everyone had an idea of what they wanted, and I feel that the people using the building the most should have their say on what’s needed,” Carlson said.
With the loss of enrollment and reduction in state funding, Superintendent Tom Messinger said he viewed the situation as one where, if a bond issue wasn’t supported, they had to reduce to two-campuses anyway.
“There’s no way I see us moving forward with the number of buildings we have. There’s a discrepancy in teacher pay which causes a higher turnover rate, because we spend money on operations, resulting in lower salaries for our teachers. We spend more money on operation than 95 percent of the other district’s in Iowa, and we’ve got to communicate to the public these issues, so we can find out what kind of a project they will support to go to the polls,” Messinger said.
Messinger added they no longer have the luxury of time to come up with a solution to the problem.
“Originally we thought we had two years before we had to make significant cuts to be able to handle our situation. However, we have declining enrollment and a reduction in state funds which means we no longer even have two years. We have much less than that. We’ve got to get people rallying behind this project,” Messinger said.
More details on the latest meeting can be found at sites.google.com/site/redoakschools/home