At BKW, a new look for the secondary school and construction underway at the elementary school

Berne-Knox-Westerlo Secondary School

The Enterprise — H. Rose Schneider
New cables have been strung across the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Secondary School during renovations that are part of the district’s capital project. Superintendent Timothy Mundell said that the cables, which now have been installed, will carry more data for the district than the current system does.

BERNE — Construction crews are finishing their work remodeling the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Secondary School, laying down payment, putting up windows, and other final steps. This first part of the district’s $20 million capital project will be nearly complete by the time school begins next week on Sept. 4, said BKW Superintendent Timothy Mundell.

Mundell told The Enterprise that he has been watching the project progress since it began this summer. As this part of the project winds down, another even more extensive phase at the elementary school is set to begin as the school year starts. The entire project is expected to be completed a little over a year from now, by Sept. 10, 2020, the superintendent said.

The project puts $14.8 million toward the elementary school and $5 million toward the secondary school; both were passed in a November 2017 public vote by wide margins.

At  a school board meeting on Monday, Aug. 26, Mundell told the board he had met with project manager Mike Walpole about the schedule of the capital project, and said that some items at the secondary school will not be completed by the time school begins on Sept. 4. For example, substitute railings will be put in place until the desired railings can be shipped, said Mundell. He said that the proposed green spaces will have their greenery planted after school begins.

Walpole has prioritized safety and security, followed by having the school function properly, Mundell said, with the last priority being the appearance or aesthetics of the campus.

The superintendent did assure the school board that wiring in the secondary school has been completed, as well as installation of the alarm and phone systems. Everything should be completed by the end of September, Mundell said, adding that, for now, everything in the school is safe and functional.

Board President Nathan Elble asked if the total renovations at the secondary school would be complete by the school’s open house on Sept. 12. Mundell said, to be cautious, he would say that the renovations would not be complete until the end of September.

However, board member Matthew Tedeschi suggested a second “open house” or a “grand opening” of the school could take place once renovations are complete.

 

The Enterprise — H. Rose Schneider
Berne-Knox-Westerlo Superintendent Timothy Mundell stands next to a “Bernie the Bulldog” statue, representing the school mascot. Mundell said that the statue will be placed in the center of a new courtyard being built as part of the district’s $20 million capital project, as a way to help maintain a community connection.

 

Scheduling

While the construction at the secondary school was able to be completed nearly uninterrupted this summer, the elementary-school renovations will be underway during the school year. Construction will take place in five phases, closing off and rebuilding a block of six rooms in around six weeks at a time, and then moving to another part, Mundell told The Enterprise during a tour last week.

Construction will also take place after classes end, from 3 to 11 p.m., he said, and a phase is also to be completed around each vacation so students would move to new classrooms after the break.

Mundell doesn’t anticipate construction work will affect after-school programs, but added, “Everybody has to be flexible.”

The first phase will be in the “1955 wing,” which houses six primary-school classrooms, said Mundell. Once completed, construction will likely begin on the second floor of the building. Teachers on this floor will move into the rooms where the teachers who had left the 1955 wing had been; this process will repeat with each phase, generally by each advancing grade level and ending with renovating office spaces, the superintendent said.

As to where the extra rooms have come from, Mundell said that sixth-grade students will be in the secondary school for the 2019-20 school year. He also said that the district has worked on finding “swing space” for teachers to use, such as rooms used normally for small-group instruction.

The classrooms, when completed, will be “flexible rooms” with “flexible seating,” said Mundell. Teachers spoke with the architects about what they wanted in the classrooms, he said.

Upon feedback from the school staff, the architects did away with a proposed design for classrooms that could be turned into two spaces or opened up with room dividers, instead opting for rooms with as much space as possible and new technology, he said.

As the construction takes place in the classrooms, work will also be done on heating, air, and electrical systems, said Mundell.

An “Agri-STEAM room” will be built in the elementary school, incorporating elements of both agricultural science and science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, or STEAM, including having a “makerspace” for robotics and coding.

In the elementary-school cafeteria, an interactive monitor and a sound system will be installed so that the room may be used for public meetings or adult-education classes.

The parking lot will also be reconfigured, but most of that work will be done in the summer of 2020, said Mundell. However, work during this school year will mean that 30 parking spaces will be gone, although Mundell said 30 or 40 spaces will be added to the campus once the project is complete.

Some teachers and other staff members will be parking across the street at the district’s business office or in the former student lot, he said, and students will park near the track.

At the secondary school, visitors will park in front of the school by the visitors’ entrance. At the elementary school, the entrance will be moved to the main building in front, and visitors can park as they generally have in the empty bus parking spaces, said Mundell.

At a school board meeting on Monday, Mundell noted that the parking lot at the secondary school will currently have only its base layer and temporary striping. The reason for this, said Mundell, is because the elementary school parking lot, which he said will be graded down two to two-and-a-half feet, will not be completed until next year and, if the final layer is put on both lots at the same time, they will wear evenly.

Mundell also said at the meeting that a notification would be sent to high school students about the new parking arrangements. Parking permits are awarded to juniors and seniors on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Secondary-school renaissance

At the secondary school, the parking lot is currently being graded to have it slope down to what was once the lot between the two buildings. The old parking lot is now in the process of becoming the school’s courtyard, with a circle for drivers to drop off students as well as areas where plants will grow and a central pedestal where a statue of the school’s mascot, Bernie the Bulldog, will sit.

Precast concrete structures are to be delivered to the courtyard next month.

The courtyard leads to a new lobby where the main office and visitors’ entrance once were.  The entrance into the auditorium and gym lobby will not be in use until the glass panels for the vestibule and a heating unit can be shipped in September. The flooring will also wait until the lobby is entirely completed, said Mundell at the school board meeting, because it is the last priority for the renovation.

Nearby the lobby, a laptop lab will also serve as a space for adult education, Mundell told The Enterprise. Further down the hall, an “Agri-Science” room has been built, with plans to have plants growing in one window, and a trout tank in the other. The room leads to the courtyard where students can garden outside.

At the front of the secondary school, the new visitors’ entrance opens to a waiting room adjacent to the main office that will allow staff to speak with visitors through a window before allowing them inside a second entryway. Doors along the side of the entryway will lead to the main office or to a conference room in an adjacent wing of offices for pupil-personnel services such as counseling or special education.

Further down the hall is the nurse’s office. Directly above the entryway, a windowed study space is being built, which Mundell said would have a “college vibe.”

This “breakout room,” the story above the visitors’ entrance, won’t be completed until the windows have been shipped to the school in September. Mundell told the school board on Monday that the room was a low priority because it is not necessary for the operation of the school or classes.

Construction workers have also been stringing new cables throughout the building. The new cables will be able to carry more data than the current system, said Mundell, noting that more WiFi access points are being added to the campus as well.

Mundell said the first things that come to mind when he thinks of the project are heightened security and new investments in the sciences, especially agricultural science and STEAM.

 

Funding

The approximately $20 million capital project was approved by voters in 2017. Of that amount, about 80-percent, or $16 million, is covered by state aid, and about half of the remainder will be covered by $2 million in reserve funds. The approximately $2 million remaining will be covered by bond payments.

Starting in 2020 and ending in 2025, tax rates for property owners in the BKW district will increase by about $12 for a home valued at $100,000. Mundell noted that the district will be paying off existing debt and replacing it with the new loans.

Of the $19.8 million project, $15.8 million had been budgeted for contracts with companies for construction, but the bids that were awarded were about $1.7 million over the budgeted amount.

Mundell said that Sano-Rubin, the construction-management company contracted by the district, has been working on finding savings in the ongoing construction by cutting unnecessary expenses or finding credits.

In April, Walpole, who works for Sano-Rubin, said he would be using “value engineering,” or changing the ratio of function to cost, such as by finding cheaper materials or improving an item’s design.

Mundell said that he was confident the project would be finished on time or earlier, and at or below budget, while still maintaining its quality.

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