Salem Grade School Superintendent Dr. Leslie Foppe makes a point to School Board President John Gaston during Thursday night’s meeting. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
The Salem Grade School Board is looking at a $5,187,000 improvement program, with most of the work to be completed this summer.
The school board finalized a contract with Omni to supervise the construction projects. The action came after a public hearing was held with no citizen input on financing for the work. The board is seeking permission to issue up to $2.5-million in health life safety bonds and $4-million-280-thousand dollars in General Obligation School Bonds.
Superintendent Dr. Leslie Foppe is looking forward to the project that will include a new heating and air conditioning system and other improvements to classrooms at Franklin Park, drainage work at both schools, and major improvements to the parking lots at both Franklin Park and Hawthorn.
“It’s happening. I get goosebumps. I’m pretty excited about all of this. I appreciate the support of the staff and the board. I know that they are looking forward to having comfortable rooms at Franklin. And everything we are going to get done is beyond exciting. I think this is going to be so good for our district, school, staff, and community. It’s a very proud moment for us I feel.”
The board approved expanded parking lots that will be concrete. Foppe says there will be an increase in parking places at Hawthorn School from the current 60 to 120.
“They are parking in the grass, anywhere they can find a spot. So they are going to expand the parking lot at Hawthorn. We are going to see if the city will give us permission to have a turn-in from the parking lot from Hawthorn Road so we can alleviate the traffic that’s going inside when they pull in of the drop-off lane closest to the building. There will also be grass and a defined separation between the drop-off and pick up lane and the parking lot.”
The Hawthorn parking lot improvements are planned for this summer. The Franklin Park improvements that will increase the number of parking spaces from 100 to 150 is scheduled for next summer so it doesn’t interfere with the major inside construction.
The board agreed to add $110,000 to the cost of the project to remove all of the ductwork from the old heating and air conditioning system at Franklin Park.
Foppe says at this point she is not certain how much of the bonds will actually have to be issued as additional COVID-19 relief funds could provide another funding source. The health life safety bonds would be paid for through an increase n the property tax levy. The general obligation bonds would be paid off through revenue the district is receiving through the one-cent sales tax that goes to schools.
