School facilities tab $24-36 million, but few projects labeled ‘urgent’

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Community School District Board of Education took a good look at what work needed to be done, how soon it needed to be done and how much it might cost at the regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday.

In September, the Charles City School District engaged Estes Construction to complete a facilities assessment of the high school, the middle school, the two elementary schools, the athletic stadium and the transportation building, as well as the swimming pool in the old middle school, now called the North Grand Building.

Peter Perez, project executive for Estes, shared the report’s findings with the board on Monday. The entire 166-page report is available on the district’s website.

The board meeting was held at the Floyd Community Center in Floyd. Four of the five members were present, with board Vice President Jason Walker absent.

In his assessment summary, Perez said the total costs of site, building and health and life safety improvements for the buildings assessed would range from about $24 million on the low end to just short of $36 million on the high end. Improvements classified as “urgent” range from $2.9 million to $4.6 million.

“Keep in mind that all of the things I’m sharing with you tonight, and that are in the document, are for information only,” Perez told the board. “There were very few items that we found that were considered ‘urgent.’”

Items were classified into four categories, with “urgent” meaning assessors believed they needed to be completed within one year.

“Required” means the project would need to be done in the next five years, “recommended” means the project would need to be done in the next 5-10 years, and “suggested” means the project would need to be done in more than 10 years.

More than 68 percent of the projects were assessed as a required priority, while 35 percent are recommended, 28 percent are urgent and just 3 percent are suggested. Of the facilities assessed, 58 percent of the work needs to be done at the high school, while 18 percent needs to be done at Washington Elementary.

“You don’t have to do every one of these things,” Perez said. “We are not the fire marshall, we’re not the authority in your jurisdiction. We are hired to inform you on the condition of your facilities, and what possible solutions we could come up with.”

The board took no action and will study the assessment report.

Also at the meeting Monday, Charles City High School German teacher Shari Stoll presented her plan for the German exchange trip planned for May 25-June 12, 2019. Students will fly out of Minneapolis on May 25 and arrive in Berlin on May 26. They will take a train from Berlin to Kothen, and stay with host families in Kothen through June 8. Kothen is the location of Charles City’s partner school.

While in Kothen, the students will take day trips to Berlin and possibly Magdeburg. On June 8, the students will take a train or bus to Munich, where they will stay until June 12. They will fly out of Berlin and arrive back in Minneapolis on June 12. The total cost per student will come to about $1,850.

Stoll said that while in Munich, they would do some sightseeing and the kids would get the opportunity to take a day trip to Salzburg, Austria, on the German border.

“They would get to hear the different dialects and see some different German culture,” Stoll said. “I feel like that trip really gives the students a chance to see different parts of Germany. Every part of Germany is different, the dialects are different, and it just gives them a better variety of the culture and the landscape.”

Stoll told the board that fundraisers for the trip will include a Hat Day on Dec. 11, selling Kwik Star Cards in December, a silent auction in January, selling cookie dough in February, a trivia night and can drive in March, a bake sale and Aprilfest in April, and a car wash in early May.

The board approved the plans for the trip as presented, and also approved the German trip fundraisers as presented.

In other business Monday, the board:

— Heard from Jody Albertson and Debra Rich, AEA regional administrators, who shared information on the Central Rivers Area Education Agency.

— Discussed some of the things members learned at the 2018 Iowa Association of School Boards Convention, which was held Nov. 14-15 in Des Moines.

— Approved an increased wage, to $20 per hour, for the position of interpreter for the English Language Learner (ELL) program, as recommended by the administration.

— Approved the resignation of Teresa Boge, custodian, effective Dec. 21.

— Approved the appointment of Karleen Sickman, 7th-grade boys basketball coach, at a salary in the amount of $2,704, starting Nov. 26.

— Approved the appointment of Amanda Rahmiller, varsity girls track coach, at a salary of $6,340, starting in February of 2019.

— Approved the appointment of Marilyn Buttjer, learning connection teacher assistant, at a wage of $12.50, starting Jan. 7, 2019.

— Approved the 2019 Iowa Drug and Alcohol Testing program fees for 2018-19 of $1,100. This program is for random testing of current drivers.