Clark-Shawnee debuts new completion date for new school, renovation

Clark-Shawnee Local School District expects to have their new elementary school completed by March 2021 and renovations completed on their middle/high school by the start of the 2020-21 school year.

At a ‘state of the schools’ meeting this week, Superintendent Brian Kuhn laid out a timeline for both schools. Kuhn said the district had experienced some budget and weather issues early on in process, pushing back completion dates, but has since resolved them.

“Having this timeline now, and having the budget kind of in place, we have a clearer picture on the timeline. Right now, Peterson Construction estimate for competition of the elementary school is March of 2021,” Kuhn said.

Clark-Shawnee held a groundbreaking ceremony about a year ago to kick off construction of their pre-K through sixth grade school building.

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Voters approved a $37 million bond issue in August 2017 to build a new elementary school and renovate the middle/high school. The bond issue was for 5.3 mills for 37 years and will cost the owner of a $100,000 house a little more than $15 a month.

The state will cover about 30% of the cost for the project - about $15 million.

Kuhn said the biggest issue the district faced after holding their ground breaking ceremony last year was the weather.

“Originally we hoped to have it done sooner, but we actually got delayed. We broke ground and then the cold and rain came. Then spring rolled around and we dealt with even more rain. So things got pushed back a little bit there,” Kuhn said.

Construction on the site of the elementary school will really start to pick up steam next month, Kuhn said.

“We are going to see more things happening starting in mid-October. We are going to see more activity, they are going to lay the foundation and walls are going to start to go up,” Kuhn said.

The elementary school will be built across the street from Shawnee High School, which is currently undergoing major renovations. Last month, crews installed new HVAC units in one section of the school.

“This project is currently on budget and we are on schedule to have all classroom spaces renovated for the start of the next school year,” Kuhn said.

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