Northeast High costs increase $23 million

The cost to repair the aging Northeast High in Oakland Park has already doubled, and now School Board members are considering proposals to add millions more.

The School Board discussed Tuesday afternoon whether to demolish and rebuild part of the 55-year-old campus. But board members ultimately decided to postpone a vote until July 31.

The school, a poster child for the bond referendum passed by voters in 2014, has major roofing, air conditioning and structural problems.

Like many projects in the bond program, Northeast is years behind schedule, and costs have skyrocketed.

Original estimates put the price to renovate the facility at $14.5 million, but district officials said in June the cost has gone up to $31.4 million.

So board members say it may be more cost effective to rebuild part of the campus, even though that will be even more expensive. They are considering three options.

One proposal would demolish four buildings and construct a new 24-classroom addition. This would cost an additional $6 million, bringing the total cost up to $37.4 million.

A second proposal demolishes a fifth building that contains the football locker and weight rooms and relocates those facilities to the newly constructed building, which would also have three more classrooms in it. This would bring the total price tag to about $39 million.

A third option would be to keep open a physical education and Junior ROTC building proposed for demolition in the other two options. The locker and weight rooms would be torn down in this proposal and added to the newly constructed building. The total cost would be $38 million.