Springdale High School renovations could stretch into next year

Repair and renovation work on Springdale Junior-Senior High School apparently will not start any time soon.

Pre-cast concrete panels on the back of the building’s ‘D’ wing have been shifting, according to Superintendent Patrick Graczyk. The panels were part of the high school expansion and renovation completed in 2012, according to district spokeswoman Jan Zastawniak.

“None of them have actually fallen off, but the building and grounds superintendent noticed they were shifting,” she said.

Graczyk said the district closed off an entrance there that students had been using before and after school, out of concern for their safety. That was done in September, Zastawniak said, and the district retained the Foreman Group, a design and construction services firm, to remove some of the panels in an attempt to determine what is causing them to loosen and shift.

“We still don’t have a final determination of what caused it,” said Terry Thompson of Foreman. He said it could be related to the metal pieces anchoring the plates.

Thompson said the board has two options. One is to remove the affected plates and begin work to replace them. However, by the time a final cause is determined and a replacement design made, bids let and then awarded, he said that work would likely extend into the coming winter.

He said he does not like doing masonry work in winter weather because it often results in more problems.

The second option Thompson mentioned is for the district to remove all the façade plates, wrap the interior walls with protective material to shield it from the weather and then look at moving forward with the repair next spring.

The board hasn’t decided how to proceed.

The district also is considering expanding the auditorium area of the high school. Thompson estimated that architectural and mechanical drawings might be completed by mid-August.

Thompson previously recommended a canopy outside the auditorium lobby entrance. Preliminary plans also include three additional restrooms on the left side of the lobby. He also presented various design concepts with walls, flooring, ceiling and light fixtures in the lobby.

If the drawings are finished by mid-August, he said, the bid specifications and advertising could pave the way to award construction contracts for the lobby project in December.

He said a procurement period from January through mid-April should allow the contractor to obtain the needed materials and move them on site so work could begin in the spring with an eye toward completion by the start of the 2025-26 school year.

There is no preliminary estimate on the cost of the two projects, but Graczyk and board President Antonio Pollino said it will be paid for out of the district’s capital reserve fund.

Hamsini Rajgopal, district director of finance and business operations, said the district has projected the auditorium project cost to be around $1.4 million, while the masonry repairs for all affected areas of ‘D’ wing could run between $1.05 million and $1.1 million.

Overall, expenditures for those and other maintenance projects and equipment paid out of the capital reserve are projected to be as much as $7 million. However, the capital fund budget is completely separate from the district’s general fund budget.

“The board has done a good job of building up the capital reserve fund so we don’t have to worry about increasing taxes for all that,” Pollino said.