Rob Notley of New Roads Construction made a presentation at the last Moorestown Board of Education meeting on the work being done at the schools, which was approved by the bond referendum in September. As of now, a construction calendar is up on the school district’s website for each school, and things are on schedule.
“There are a couple small changes in the schedule, but overall, the project remains not only on time, but under budget,” board member Matthew Simeone said.
The Building Excellence Referendum was proposed earlier in 2014. It had two questions where the first asked for the approval of work that includes $37.6 million of improvements to aging infrastructures at schools for exterior renovations, interior renovations, HVAC upgrades, and electrical/security and technology upgrades. The second asked for an additional $5.2 million for patching and paving of driveways and parking lots at the schools, cafeteria table replacements at George C. Baker School, carpeting and flooring replacements at UES, theater improvements and athletic fields improvements. Under the ROD grant program, the district received 37 percent aid reimbursement on Question 1, but no aid on Question 2 projects.
Since the approval, New Roads Construction and Garrison Architects have been working together along with school district administration to get these projects up and running. For the public’s benefit, Notley has put together a calendar of construction, with much being planned to start this June.
“We’ve been working very hard with Garrison Architects on design packages. We’re looking to begin this summer,” Notley said.
The school district has already awarded purchase orders for package 1, which is the security vestibules such as exterior doors and windows at each of the six schools, and will begin in June. Package 2, which is the data/technology upgrades, has been awarded as well, and, according to Notely, work has begun at WMAS with the upgrade. Last week, the board approved bids for the roofing, Package 3.
To view the construction calendar, go to the school district’s website at www.mtps.com and click the link under Construction Calendars. A calendar for each school is available there.
“It is nothing fancy, but it does give the message,” Notley said.
Each school is split into five columns listing the name of the package, beginning and ending dates, a brief summary and explanatory notes for each project. There are 12 packages in total, but each school has at most eight packages that need to be completed.
The calendar will be updated with any changes that have happened or need to happen.
“This is a living document. The architect and his sub-consultants are still working on some of the design components,” Notley said.
“Any change will be found on the website,” Simeone said.
The two schedule changes that have happened since the calendar has been posted are a change in the work done on the theaters at the three upper schools and the HVAC work that will be done on the Upper Elementary School.
The architect did a detailed survey of the theaters at the UES, middle school and high school and found there is a long list of deficiencies. Most are due to a change in the state’s uniform construction code where the standards for theater rigging has changed. As of now, they’re looking at what can be done that fits within the budget. That work, rather than taking place this summer, will be done next summer.
For the HVAC work at UES, they found there are programs the state has that offer rebates for some of things they are updating. The architects are looking to make some design changes to maximize the rebates that can be obtained, so this project will be moved to 2016.
Board member Peter Palko asked if changes will be noted in the document on the website, and Notley said any changes will be highlighted.
In other news:
• Students were honored at the BOE meeting from the high school, middle school and upper elementary school. Those honored include students who did well on foreign language exams and received regional, state and county achievements in the arts and sciences.
• Retiring teachers were also honored at the meeting. Those teachers include Mary Barker, Mary Jo Bove, Irene Mosessen, Joyce Peacock, Angela Torban, Barbara Williams and Virginia Von Reichbauer.
• The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for June 23 at 7:30 p.m.
