“It’s goin’ great, Scott.”
When answering school board member Scott Crise’s question about finding property for a new Pipkin Middle School, Springfield Public Schools Deputy Superintendent of Operations Travis Shaw’s sarcastic reply drew laughs from board members and attendees.
The question came at the end of a report about progress of construction projects in a $220 million bond Springfield votes passed in April. In the report, Shaw showed work in the package of projects is underway, with construction happening at four elementary schools and a middle school.
The report was given during the Springfield Board of Education meeting Nov. 28. As part of the presentation, Shaw showed aerial video of the school district's ongoing construction projects.
Storm shelters going up
Proposition S calls for building six storm shelter-gymnasiums at elementary schools without them. Construction is underway at Mann, Wilder, Pittman and Watkins elementary schools.
Shaw said that cost estimates of around $5 million on those four projects have balanced each other out — overages on Mann and Wilder are evened by savings on Watkins and Pittman. The four shelters are predicted to be completed by September.
Construction bids for the other two shelters, at Cowden and Holland elementaries, will be opened soon. Those have estimated completion dates in December 2024.
Those shelters are part of a larger effort to eliminate “cafegymatoriums” — larger spaces used for meals, PE classes and other programs, but not efficient for any of those anymore. When completed, Springfield will have 23 schools with community safe rooms. The shelters will also be used for PE and music classes and other events.
Security upgrades ongoing
Shaw said in his report that security film has been installed on windows at Springfield’s five public high schools, and at other buildings such as Kraft Administration Center and two transportation centers. Work was completed over the summer.
Four more rounds of security film installation now await, with two of them scheduled to be completed before the end of the year. The rounds include 29 buildings, including middle schools and many elementary schools. The remainder are hoped to be completed in the first part of next year.
Prices for the window films have come in almost $1 million under budget of a $2.5 million estimate, Shaw said. The cost of all five rounds was $1,648,168.05.
The films help make glass harder to penetrate, and hold shattered pieces in place.
Shaw said SPS administrators in the first part of 2024 will open bids for door sensors and access control systems. Design and bids for cameras and roof sensors have yet to be scheduled.
Reed construction begins, study helps plan for Pershing
Construction has begun on rebuilding a new Reed Academy at the old school’s location, 2000 N. Lyon Ave.
The old building was demolished earlier this year. Springfield Public Schools budgeted $59,480,000 to build a new, 61,200-square-foot center with 31,795 square feet for choir, band, orchestra, dance and art programs.
Now that an anticipated demographics study is in hand, SPS is ready to consider a plan for expanding Pershing’s middle school.
The study performed by Davis Demographics recommended two plans for relocating Pershing’s elementary students, and converting Pershing into a middle school for grades 6 to 8. The school district has budgeted $50,420,000 for the project.
Costs on target
In his report, Shaw said costs overall have largely been on track. Proposition S includes almost $20 million in a cost variance fund to anticipate overages. As part of a 75% construction document phase, hard cost estimates were largely on track, while soft costs were under budget by about $3 million.
“We have actually seen a reduction in our consultant fees, compared to what we saw in the previous election,” Shaw said.
Additionally, Shaw said Springfield Public Schools was able to earn about $12.3 million in premium sales, effectively expanding the purchasing power of voters’ authorization of $220 million in bond sales.
Place for Pipkin yet to be found
While a location for Pipkin was not discussed much during Tuesday’s meeting, Shaw spoke with members of the media before the meeting and provided an update about the hunt for Pipkin, after the district in September backed away from property on Pythian Avenue for the site.
Shaw said the search for a new site within Pipkin’s sending zone has been “frustrating,” and that he had hoped to have a new location nailed down by now.
Springfield Public Schools seeks about 10 acres to build a new middle school and athletic center for Pipkin similar to what was built for Jarrett Middle School. But finding a suitable place within an area of the city that is already heavily developed is difficult, according to a review done by the Hauxeda in October.
“The challenge to step back and take a different look at it is certainly real,” Shaw said. “We have multiple things that we are still looking at working on. Our board’s direction has been that we want to make sure that it’s the right place, based on the feedback provided by different community members.”
