HOT SPRINGS – After several months of talking about the facility improvement needs in the district, the Hot Springs School Board has formally prioritized the middle school as the first area to be addressed.
Earlier this calendar year, the district contracted COOP Architecture of Rapid City to do an inspection of the middle school, high school and Case Auditorium and develop estimates to address a wide range of needs including architectural, mechanical and electrical improvements.
The total estimate for all three facilities came to nearly $11.5 million. While there would be some cost savings to do multiple projects at the same time, the board agreed that the price tag to do so was much too high, so it was decided this past spring to address the needs in phases.
The high school improvements are estimated to cost the most at just under $6.5 million, while the middle school and Case Auditorium improvements were similarly estimated at about $2.5 million each. Official action by the board was postponed this past summer until more information was available about the costs for some other needs including concrete work and new boilers.
At last week’s regular board meeting on Sept. 14, Superintendent Kain Klinkhammer urged the board to move forward with choosing the first phase of the improvements to allow for the best available competitive bid prices this winter with the hopes of starting the project next summer.
K l i n k h a m m e r ’ s recommendation to start with the middle school was not only based on the fact that it was the least costly, but also because it would have “a great impact in terms of quality of life” for students and staff.
Included in the planned improvements for the middle school is a remodel of the restrooms which he said has been an issue of management from the administration level. In addition, the heating and cooling needs of the building have been an ongoing issue of high concern with in-classroom temperature swings of the mid-90s at the start of the school year and then down to the mid-50s during the wintertime.
“Addressing this … is helping our students focus on learning,” Klinkhammer said, while also emphasizing the need for the district to develop a scheduled plan to continue addressing the needs in the other buildings to avoid compounded emergency improvements.
Prior to the board unanimously voting to move forward with the middle school improvements, Board President Sharon Romey reminded the other board members about their previous discussions which supported Klinkhammer’s recommendation to start with the middle school, not only for its positive impact on the students’ learning environment, but also because it was estimated at a cost whereas the district would not need to take out a loan to cover.
Business Manager Wendy Bilbruck confirmed that at the estimated cost of just under $2.5 million, the district had enough in its capital outlay fund balance to support that single phase of the overall project.
Board member Brian Jarding spoke and said he would like to see a way in which the district could somehow add in the needed improvements to the Case Auditorium handicap ramp into the middle school project as well. Bilbruck said that, while it was not part of the initial schematics of the COOP Architecture’s RFP, it may be possible to work it into the improvements. She said she would have more information on that for next month’s meeting.
Other improvements discussed earlier during the board meeting was the need for new bleachers in Case Auditorium which were estimated to cost around $250,000.
During Klinkhammer’s Superintendent Report near the end of the meeting, he said the SD Department of Education had released its report card for all of the district’s in the state. While Hot Springs’ English Language Arts (ELA) scores continue to be above the statewide average, Math dropped this year to below the statewide average. He said Science is also below average but is trending upward in comparison to the previous year.