Northeastern schools project under budget
Community forum set for May to discuss the use of unspent money.
The construction project for Northeastern’s prek through 12th grade schools is now under budget by a few million dollars, according to the district superintendent.
Notheastern Local School District Superintendent John Kronour said the project’s bidding and pricing came back in line, and the district is roughly $4 million under budget. That money, which does not include an extra $1 million that was put in reserve, can used to add more features to the new buildings, he said.
The district is building new prek-12 campuses — Northeastern and Kenton Ridge at a cost of $120 million. The state will pick up about 40% of the cost.
The school board and administration discussed the construction project and potential additions during a work session Wednesday night.
Kronour said the district has to look at what the priorities would be in regards to using the money.
“We need ideas from the board, administration and community,
then we’ll start working toward what is the goal,” Kronour said.
The district will hold a community forum at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 24 to get input on ideas.
Some things that could be added were features cut from the construction project early on because the district was overbudget, Kronour said.
In late 2019, construction estimates were 20% overbudget, but the district was able to resolve budget issues by redesigning the project to reduce costs. The changes and adjustments made were not that noticeable, Kronour said. Those changes included reducing square footage, simplifying building shapes, lowering material costs and reducing parking spaces.
Some additions the school board and administration talked about include turf on the field, shade on the playgrounds, parking, bleachers and a press box, and sport facilities (for a locker room, equipment, etc.).
Officials also discussed what will happen to the old high school buildings.
The district could decide to keep the gyms at both schools or lease or rent the properties, Kronour said. Maintenance costs would also need to be considered if the district keeps the schools, he added.
“Whatever we do, we’ve got to do it right,” Northeastern High School Principal Todd Justice said.
No costs were discussed Wednesday.
“We are still at least two years away. It’s hard to finalize any of those plans,” Kronour said.
Construction at the Northeastern and Kenton Ridge sites is “moving right along.”
At the Northeastern site, masonry work is being done.
“We should be done with all the block here about the first of May, and then the brick should be done by September,” Bob Arnold, Masonry Foreman from Gostomsky Masonry, said in a video posted to the district’s Facebook page. “We look to be finishing up early with the brick.”
Kronour said the Masonry company has worked through the winter and had to tent some areas due to the cold but that “great progress” has been made over the last six months.
“You can also see that we’ve got steel going up. That is actually the height of the building,” Kronour said. “They’ll continue to keep putting decking on and doing some bridging to that. They’ll keep laying block and keep going right along.”
Site work at the Kenton Ridge project is also going well.
“They’ve done a great deal of adding cement and lime to the soils to make sure that it is in good condition to be able to be built upon. The underground has been done with adding water and sewer so that is all ready to go,” Kronour said. “We’ve been spending time to getting the gross maximum price contract together, and hopefully in the next month you will see a lot of things coming out of the ground as the project really takes off from here.”
The district held a groundbreaking ceremony October 2020 for the new schools.
The $42-million Northeastern site is anticipated to open in the fall of 2022 and the $57-million Kenton Ridge site is anticipated to open in 2023. One of the new buildings will be located on the northeastern side of the district, adjacent to the current South Vienna school, and the other building will be on the property near the current Kenton Ridge High School.