By Lori Ehde
Luvernes middle school and high school building will soon have brighter hallways, a new heating and cooling system and new electrical wiring.
At the recommendation of the Facilities Committee, Luverne School Board members voted to move forward on improvements to the 50-year-old structure.
Their action authorizes Engineering Design Associates, Sioux Center, Iowa, to develop plans and specifications for the improvements.
A bid date will be set during a January board meeting.
The Sioux Center engineering firm has been working with the Facilities Committee on studying needs for the building.
Some of the work is planned in phases over the next few years, but the following improvements are planned for this year:
- New upgraded 800 amp electrical service, which includes a new welding panel to be housed on the exterior of the west side of the industrial arts wing.
- Four-pipe heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
- Lighting and ceiling replacement in the first-floor corridors.
According to discussion at the Tuesday, Nov. 21, board meeting, the electrical upgrade is long overdue. Board members have been hearing reports from teachers and staff of fuses blown in various classrooms on nearly a daily basis.
The current wiring, installed nearly 50 years ago, wasn't designed for the demands of modern technology.
Also, the electrical upgrade was necessary before work could begin on the heating, ventilation and air conditioning project.
Since duct work would disturb first-floor ceiling panels, the board agreed with the Facilities Committee that now would also be a good time to improve lighting in first-floor corridors. The project has been on the boardÕs capital outlay list for several years.
This year's share of the four-phase work on heating, ventilation and air conditioning is estimated to cost more than $757,000. Additional costs over the next three years are estimated at nearly $677,000.
Electrical work for this year is budgeted at nearly $60,000. Additional upgrades over the next three years could total nearly $368,000.
High School office to remain on first floor
The Facilities Committee has for months been discussing the merits of moving the high school principal's office to the second floor.
The primary reason for the move would be to provide more separation between middle school and high school students.
With the office move, classrooms would also be shuffled to keep high school students primarily on second floor and middle school students on the first level.
At last week's meeting, however, the Facilities Committee and the board agreed not to go through with the move. The primary reason was keeping administration accessible to parents and the public.
"I personally feel it's important for parents to come through the door and have access to the office," said board member Becky Walgrave, who also serves on the Facilities Committee.
She and the other board members still support the idea of arranging high school students on the second floor, and they also support making needed improvements to the existing high school and middle school principals' offices.
In other business the board:
- Approved a policy regarding the district's acceptance of open-enrolled students. The policy protects the district in the event that it receives a request for open enrollment in a class already filled that would require hiring additional staff. It states that the district is not held to accept the non-resident in such cases.
"It's not that the district will start excluding children, in fact there are more reasons in this policy to accept students," said Superintendent Vince Schaefer. "But Luverne is in a situation where some of its enrollment is growing."
- Approved David Van Batavia as assistant boys' hockey coach and Brian Boll as assistant girls' hockey coach.
- Accepted the resignation of Lisa Arndt as Title I paraprofessional.
- Reminded of the Truth in Taxation meeting tonight at 7 p.m.
- The next School Board meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14.