By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board approved a guaranteed maximum price of $14.49 million for the O'Loughlin Elementary School renovation and addition at its meeting on Monday.
The school board members asked representatives of DLR, the district's architect, about the cost of the project and the remaining bond projects.
A new high school is being built as part of $145 million in bond projects. The current high school will be converted into a middle school, and the middle school will be converted into an elementary school. An addition and renovation at Roosevelt Elementary School is close to being completed.
Lincoln Elementary School will close in May, and the district plans to close Wilson Elementary School as well. Upon the closure of the Rockwell Administration Center, that building will likely be used as an administrative office.
The former middle school will become Felten Elementary School. The main change at the Felten will be the addition of en-suite bathrooms to the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms.
The kindergarten and first-grade classrooms also will receive paint and other light renovations.
Board member Jayme Goetz expressed concerns about the school's plumbing.
Superintendent Ron Wilson said staff are not aware of any current plumbing problems. The DLR representative said a site visit is performed before the contract goes to bid.
The estimated cost for the project will be $3.8 million.
The project has a built-in 5% contingency fund.
Work on the new high school is set to be completed in August 2025. Work on the old high school is set to begin in summer 2025, with completion anticipated in six to eight months.
In the current high school, walls for several small classrooms will be moved to create larger classrooms.
The classrooms that will be enlarged will also receive light renovations, including flooring and paint.
The typical classroom in the former high school is about 624 square feet. New classrooms being built today average 800 to 900 square feet.
The district has budgeted $6.9 million for the renovations of the current high school. It has already spent $3.6 million to replace the HVAC system, and the rest of the renovations will cost an estimated $3.3 million.
All three projects are within the budget for the bond.
"I don't think we have wisely been using money," board member Derek Yarmer said. "I don't feel we've made the plans for the next step."
"We've spent this money here, and whatever we have left, we have left," he said.
He added, "I think we overspent in areas we didn't need to. We are still leaving things subpar."
Board member Allen Park said he thought the light renovations could be done by district maintenance staff to save money.
He also said he thought the community and board should have been more involved in the planning process for Felten, the new middle school and O'Loughlin.
The price for the O'Loughlin project passed on a vote of 5-2, with Yarmer and Park voting against it.