Work is just beginning for LPOSD

PONDERAY - Work is only just beginning on the outcome of Tuesday's successful plant facilities levy.

“Certainly the work doesn't stop,” Lisa Hals, Lake Pend Oreille School District business manager, said during a special meeting held Thursday at the district office.

Board members met to approve the canvassing of Tuesday's election results and confirm the re-election of trustee and board chairman Vickie Pfeifer.

Trustees will need to establish a timeline for the building projects at Kootenai and Sagle Elementary schools, along with determining when health and safety projects will occur, Hals said.

Planning needs to be quite aggressive if LPOSD officials intend to break ground on the projects next spring, which means getting everything in place to go out for bid for an architect, Hals said.

Interviewing architects can be a lengthy process and municipalities will need adequate time to review the projects, she said.

Typically, school districts take longer to break ground on school construction projects, but the district wants people to see the results of Tuesday's vote sooner rather than later, said Superintendent Dick Cvitanich.

The earlier this district begins the project, the more likely it is to save money related to increased construction costs.

Developing that timeline probably should happen by early June because some variables are out of the district's control, such as receiving plan approval from the state Building and Safety Department, which must review and approve all school building plans, Hals said.

Although the building department has said it takes between two and three weeks to review and approve plans, it typically takes eight to 11 weeks depending upon how many plans the department has to approve, she said.

Trustees also will have to decide what approach to take regarding the specifics of what the classrooms will look like at both schools - whether to take a top-down approach or involve staff, being mindful of summer break, she said.

Hals anticipates the health and safety portions of the project will take place during the next two summers because work needs to occur when students are not in school.

Funding from the projects possibly could come from an inter-fund loan from the school district that would charge interest, an option that would be more cost effective than taking out a tax anticipation loan, she said.

The loan would be necessary because taxes from the election will not be available until January 2009 after they are collected in December.

In fact, the district will request approval from the trustees to go out for bid for fleet vehicles (an Expeditor van and two food service vehicles) and 11 school buses at its regular board meeting Tuesday at Northside Elementary.

It also will seek approval to go to bid for health, safety and deferred maintenance school items. Each item is listed separately on the agenda.

Those items include: Asbestos removal, replacement of Clark Fork Jr. Sr. High bleachers and re-roofing the school, along with repairing its track and replacement of Farmin-Stidwell's bleachers.

They also include replacement or upgrading heating and control systems, construction of a sewer connection at Hope Elementary, rubber foundations under all playground equipment, water source/water containment systems at Sagle Elementary, resurfacing the asphalt parking area and replacing damaged curbs and sidewalks at SHS, completing plumbing needs in the SHS field house, replacing the south section of the SHS roof, removing carpet on the walls at SHS and replacing it with sheet rock and installing composition tile on the school's concrete hallway floors.

Also included are: Replacement of the Sandpoint Middle School fire alarm system, carpeting and tile in SMS classrooms, installation of carpet in classrooms and fire rated ceiling tiles, plus installation of sinks and running waiter on the Stidwell side of Farmin-Stidwell, replacement of VCT tile in Washington Elementary's halls and classrooms and a modular classroom at Washington Elementary.

The levy's passage also will free up the 2 percent of general fund money or $780,000 of total building replacement value that Idaho requires districts to spend on maintenance each year, Cvitanich said. The district's facilities director, Sid Rayfield, is working on a list of projects that need to be addressed, he said.

Cvitanich and the trustees also discussed putting a citizen's oversight committee together as soon as possible, along with developing a regular newsletter to keep patrons informed about the ongoing projects.

The district anticipates quite a bit of interest in the project from architects and builders. Staff received comments from people interested in work who turned in absentee ballots, saying they have worked on school construction projects in other states.

The projects will be a boon to the community, especially during a time when the economy is troubled, said trustee Mindy Cameron.

“It's an economic development project for the community,” she said.