Submitted by Lopez School staff
The Lopez Island School renovation project continues on schedule and within budget. The school renovation team has been busy with planning and design work in preparation for permitting this winter, bidding in early spring, and a construction start in June 2016. This project is supported by the $9.6 million dollar capital bond that Lopez voters approved in November 2014. The bond was originally a 20 year bond, but with the favorable interest rates received at the time of sale, the term of the bond was reduced to 15 years with no annual payment increase – a 25 percent savings to taxpayers in nominal dollars.
Planning to date has included extensive design meetings with the Project Design Advisory Team composed of staff and community members. A number of local professionals have been conducting surveys and inspections of the school building systems. The engineering and architectural team has been developing the construction schematic design. The recommended final schematic design will be presented at the September 29 school board meeting.
Also this summer the first construction work began – albeit on Decatur Island. The Lopez Island School District’s in-house facilities team (Denny Jardine and Jimmy Burt) completed the first phase of renovating the District’s one-room schoolhouse on Decatur Island – a small but important part of the bond project. New roofing, plumbing upgrades, painting, tree-work, and a new entrance awning were completed.
Overall the key challenge for the project is the recent significant increases in school construction costs which are being driven by the improving economy and the current large number of local construction projects. Visible evidence of the latter trend can be seen by comparing the number of construction cranes on the Seattle skyline today with that of three years ago. Over the last several years, local construction costs have risen 15 to 20 percent.
Even with these increased costs, the district is confident the fundamental upgrades needed to keep the school operating and safe can be made. In addition select key upgrades to our educational technology and program areas are in the budget. That said, the school board has instructed district leadership to seek any additional state support or grants for which the District may be eligible in order to leverage the maximum value possible out the community’s $9.6 million dollar contribution.
The challenges notwithstanding, the district remains excited about this first ever comprehensive upgrade to the Lopez School campus. Construction will begin in June of 2016, continue in phases throughout the following school year, and be completed in August of 2017. The district wishes to once again thank the Lopez and Decatur Island communities for making this major investment in the education of our children.
If you have any questions about the project, contact Brian Auckland, Superintendent, bauckland@lopez.k12.wa.us, or John Helding, board chairperson, jhelding@lopez.k12.wa.us. Also come to the Tuesday, Sept. 29 school board meeting, 5 p.m., school library, where a comprehensive renovation project update and Q & A session will be presented.
