“This is a multi-purpose building that the district is looking to construct for the future years,” Superintendent David Shea said. “The purpose is during the day we can use it for indoor recess. The community can possibly use it in the morning. We are hopeful that we can have some of our walkers who walk around town especially during the cold months to get in there and utilize the building.
MORE: Southeastern schools debating new gymnasium
“And one of the big uses will be for after school, youth leagues and high school sports. It allows them to get into that building and maybe not have such late practice.”
Preparation for school construction is happening all over Clark County. Northeastern Local School voters approved a $79 million bond issue this week to build two new schools. Northwestern plans on taking bond money from their completed school project to build an athletic complex on their campus. Greenon and Clark-Shawnee have recently passed bond issues to build a new school and are planning to build their projects.
Shea declined to give an estimate of the cost of the building and said that will be known at a later date. The building will be close to about 14,000 to 16,000 square feet, Shea said, although that is not official. Previously the district estimated that the building would be about 20,0000 square feet.
The district is not raising tax dollars for the project and will likely finance the cost and pay it off over several years, Shea said.
EXTRA: Southeastern school to start building new gym
“From a financial and fiscal standpoint, I think we have been very aware of what we need to do,” he said. “We tried to do things in a cost-effective way. We try to manage the money and be aware of our community and make sure we are taking care of them and be responsible at the same time.”
The contract between the district and the firm gives a construction start date of August 2018 and a substantial completion date of July 2019. Shea said the district plans to work with the architect to make sure it is listing bids and making decisions in a timely matter to make sure the district is getting the best price.
“The architect shall perform its services consistent with the professional skill and care ordinarily provided by architects practicing in the same or similar locality under the same or similar circumstances,” the contract says.
The new gymnasium will not replace the current gymnasium used at Southeastern High School, Shea said. However, it could allow junior high teams to play at the high school more often.
“You can move a practice and the high school has a bigger floor,” Shea said. “As students get bigger our floor gets smaller.”
Overall, the community seems to be excited about the new building, Shea said.
READ: Southeastern schools weigh new gym
“They read a few news articles and saw a few things on TV and the excitement level is high,” Shea said. “When they start seeing construction I am sure excitement will rise again.”
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