By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Renovation work will start this summer to convert the current high school into a middle school.
The Hays USD 489 school board heard an update on the Hays Middle School project at its meeting on Monday.
Ishita Banerjii, DLR Group's lead architect on the project, presented plans to the board.
Groups of three classrooms will be renovated into two classrooms with flexible space in between. The current high school classrooms are about 700 square feet. The new layout will include 900-square-foot classrooms.
Bond funds will also be used to install new flooring in the corridors, paint lockers, add new ceilings and lighting and reconfigure visual boards.
All of the exterior doors will also be replaced.
The HVAC system in the current high school was upgraded several years ago. The units were all installed to match the planned sizes of the new classrooms.
Banerjii said minor ductwork will need to be done to reconfigure the HVAC vents to match the new classroom alignment.
The total cost of the renovations is estimated at $6.47 million.
The total bond cost is now at $162.8 million, which is slightly less than at the last report.
Further renovations, amounting to about $445,000, will be completed with capital outlay funds and overseen by the building and grounds department.
Board member Derek Yarmer asked about the building's plumbing. Rusty Lindsay, director of building and grounds, said there were no apparent problems with the plumbing at this time.
The school had received a low score on plumbing before the bond was passed, likely because the HVAC system at that time was causing substantial condensation problems, Lindsay said.
The new HVAC system has eliminated that problem.
Yarmer asked what justified the $500,000 fee for DLR. Banerjii said the current project accounted for $150,000. The rest involved drawings for the previous scope of the project, which was a larger $10 million project.
The budgets for Felten Elementary School and the new middle school were reduced when the high school's budget increased, Banerjii said.
The buildings and grounds work will likely occur in three phases. The first phase will occur this summer before Nabholz Construction starts its bond work in August.
Phase one will include painting 12 classrooms, replacing ceiling tiles and floors. The cost of this phase will be $225,000.
Phase two of the buildings and grounds work will include work in the current locker room area. One of the locker rooms will be renovated into bathrooms.
A paint area will be added where the metal shop used to be.
The wood shop for the middle school students will be created where the former high school welding shop was, and a new dust collection system will be added.
Hays Middle School Principal Tom Albers said the new woodshop for the middle school will be about double the space students have at the current middle school.
Some classrooms will also be reconfigured in that area. The total cost of phase two will be $220,000.
The high school will still use the current woodshop and greenhouse. To prevent high school and middle school students from intermingling, a locked door will be between the high school portion of the building and the middle school portion.
The door can be accessed by staff using a key card. The door will still be available as a fire exit in an emergency.
The existing bathrooms in the career and technical education wing will be on the high school side of the building.
A third phase of work in the career tech portion of the building, set for next summer, will include an overhaul of the bathrooms in the locker rooms, Lindsay said. This will also be paid for with capital outlay funds.
Copier contract
The board rejected a renewal of a five-year lease agreement with Sumner One for print management, copy machines, support and maintenance for $63,049 per year under the Kansas Board of Regents contract.
The board rejected the contract renewal on a vote of 3-3, with board members Curt Vajnar, Allen Park and Yarmer voting against the contract.
All three said they wanted local bidders to have the option to bid on the contract.
Chris Hipp, assistant superintendent of business services, said the contract has already been bid through the Kansas Board of Regents contract system. Further bidding would result in a higher price or the district being forced to change its copy management system, which would be disruptive.