Garrettsville – The Campus of Excellence steering committee met on May 15 (third Thursday of the month, MS Library/Media Center) for a progress report and quick look at the construction of the new elementary school addition to house the fifth and sixth grade, come August.
The first question had to do with the weather and its effect on the situation. Can we say “wet”? Things are moving along as quickly as possible, given the precipitation, and once some drying takes place, it will be full steam ahead…and then some. The design-build company overseeing the project has built in contingency planning and is prepared to put “pedal to the metal” when it is necessary and feasible to meet deadlines…seven days a week if need be.
Color schemes. Who thought about them? Paint? That’s all in the works—field (background) colors, accent colors. Carpet tiles and floor tiles, walls, work areas, the clinic, restrooms, public meeting space, hallways—all in the mix; different requirements for different uses. Don’t even THINK about Fifty Shades of Gray.
The block walls are about to go up (see : weather). The structural steel is waiting in the wings. Concrete trucks will be bringing in some 18,000 cubic feet of the base material—20-25 truckloads—for the foundation. New valves and hydrants for the water system, campus-wide, will be added. New schematics for the power supply will be added, individualizing the buildings, and requiring a power shutdown as well as a water supply interruption at some future point. Summer school will be moved to the Middle School this year in consideration of the requirements of the situation and the safety of students. Timmerman GeoTech has been and will continue to monitor construction details that most of us would never think of—soil moisture, concrete standards, etc.—testing as we go to ensure compliance with highest standards of construction , health and safety. The building will be grounded to lessen the dangers of lightning strikes. Who would have thought of that?
And all of that stuff in the Park Avenue building that has to go somewhere until it finds a new home in the new building? Through the good offices of two local, school-involved guys, board member Deral White and perennial coach and booster, Larry Roach, those materials will be stored in two semi trailers, which will be loaded by the football team…and probably unloaded too—good body-building exercise.
It’s a GO, folks. To (mis)quote a famous American admiral(Farragut), “Damn the weather reports! Full speed ahead!”
