NEW WASHINGTON — The Buckeye Central Board of Education made the next step in preparing for an expansion to its school building during its recent meeting.
Board members voted to accept the bid from Studer-Obringer, Inc. to carry out the construction on building improvements coming up during the next few months.
Studer-Obringer submitted a base bid of $8,332,000.
Board members were told a construction entrance will be put in as soon as possible. With basketball season, construction on the north end of the building will be put off until March 1 unless the weather cooperates, in which case, construction can begin sooner. During this time, other than during spring break, all activities will take place after hours. Construction on the front parking lot will not begin until June 1 and will take roughly two months. The board office renovations and an addition will begin June 1 and the board hopes will be done by July 31 so it may occupy the space by the time school starts. The end date for the bus garage is also set for approximately July 31st.
For work on the kindergarten wing, the goal is to have it finished by the end of July. The contractors have until November 2020 to complete the STEAM room and board conference room, though it is not estimated that the project will go on that long. Because of the design, builders may be inside working on finishing building the preschool rooms while school is in session. The projected end date for the preschool rooms is November 2020, but again, it is not estimated that the project will take that long.
Also during the meeting, the board was told the middle school is one of 12 finalists for the ESEA award.
“At one time we were a watch school, and we worked for a long time to fix that and now we have. Now we are in the situation where we are one of twelve schools being looked at for exceptional performance for two or more consecutive years, and for closing achievement gaps between student groups,” Robinson said. “So hopefully if we are fortunate, we will be one of the two schools who will be picked out of the twelve to be an ESEA distinguished school.”
The ESEA award, according to the ESEA website, goes to schools that, “demonstrate a wide array of strengths, including team approaches to teaching and learning, focused professional development opportunities for staff, individualized programs for student success and strong partnerships between the school, parents, and the community.”
The next board meeting is Dec. 13 at 4 p.m.