East Gym: Construction is underway on the new “East” Gym. Part of the construction project will include repaving, and most likely redesign of the BHS parking lot. For more safety and efficiency we are looking at having busses pick up and drop off on the north side of BHS and parent pick up on the south side of the school. There will be work required to make bus drop off and pick up on the north side, perhaps making that street a one-way. Preliminary discussion has been held with Chief Hodge and SRO Paula Wilson. More information will be coming as this phase progresses.
Northside Addition: The Benson City Council approved a conditional use permit at Northside for the cafeteria addition and the preschool addition to be within the set-back limits. This is a big step forward. We thank the city council and Mayor for their support.
Design and layout meetings continue: Preschool staff met with the architect to continue design work. Two teachers are going to the new elementary school (Lakeland) in Willmar to get design ideas for classrooms. Preschool staff visited another site to get ideas. There was a meeting on the auditorium as well with the architect and engineer. Much time was put into the auditorium sound and light needs. There is a tremendous amount of detail in an auditorium. Thank you to Brock and the auditorium committee for visiting other auditoriums to get ideas and be prepared.
The school board worked with the architect and engineer to decide on mechanical systems at the NS additions and at BHS.
The school board will be holding a work session. One of the agenda items will be to get an update on the auditorium from the architect, engineer, and Brock.
The Construction Manager (CM) is analyzing the drawings to this point. He will be contacting area contractors to get real time costs on different parts of construction. The CM will be giving a budget report and timeline to the school board at the February meeting. This is the job of the CM, to make sure the project is on budget and completed on time. This will be their first report, with more to follow as we work through construction.
The plan right now is to demolish the auditorium before school begins for the 19-20 school year. If this happens, the main BHS entrance may not be available for the school year. This is not definite, however it may be a possibility.
The NS main entrance may also be disrupted as construction happens on the cafeteria. Still working on options at NS.
Please know that parking will be limited around BHS and NS during periods of construction and we may have longer walks to get to the buildings.
While nothing is visual at this point, much progress is being made and many exciting things happening. Thank you to the staff for how prepared you have been for design and layout meetings and for having open minds to new ideas. This is fun and exciting stuff happening in our schools!
While the footprints (layouts) of the main construction areas are pretty well finalized, some of the interior work is yet in design phase.