Board approves renovations plan
The Red Oak School Board has approved the master plan for their upcoming facilities renovation.
During the regular meeting Jan. 23, the board reviewed the plans with Alley Poyner Macchietto architect Daric O’Neal. O’Neal said the floor plan has not changed much at all since the schematic design, they have just created more detail on what all the spaces have.
‘Probably the largest change is in the family and consumer science area. The Pro Start program is looking to be implemented here. We have a commercial cooking kitchen in that environment, and a couple of classrooms adjacent to that. One of the classrooms will be able to be used as a student-run café down the road,” O’Neal said.
Another change is in the administration area, and there are new features in the media center. O’Neal said they flip flopped the nurse’s office with the assistant principal’s office at the high school. The designs also featured an expanded entryway that allowed secure access into the office space without going through the school.
“Students will also be able to access the office without having to interact with the waiting area. In the media center, not much has changed. We have a couple of conference rooms that are accessible for students and teachers throughout the day,” commented O’Neal.
The choir room has expanded, and the current band room will be changed to a small ensemble practice area. Storage will be located in the area, and the current cafeteria will become the band room. New features in the auditorium include a handicapped accessible ramp.
Alternates at the high school include the addition of roughly 165 parking stalls to make up for lost space in the renovation.
“From a city zoning code standpoint, you do not need more parking. Our goal is to provide you the same amount of parking you have now. A lot is being taken away with the new gym addition,” O’Neal said.
Upgrades at Inman include four new classrooms, as well as a storm shelter, which fits the proposed occupancy level of the students and teachers at the building.
“Each of the four classrooms have restrooms in each corner. We also have an alternate of a stage addition,” said O’Neal.
Pricing for alternates would be held to a specified date. Plans are to bid for the high school project a week before they bid out for the Inman project.
The board unanimously approved the master plan and design development stage.
The board then heard an update from Mark Pfister with Boyd Jones outlining the schedule for the renovation projects.
At the start of summer, 2018, Pfister said they will start putting up the temporary classrooms, tackling asbestos remediation in the school, and conducting a full mechanical replacement. Also during the first summer, they would start fire sprinkler installation at Inman Primary. To begin the 2018-19 school year, the high school students would all be located in the tech center, to allow for contractors to gain some ground and let the students be in a temporary situation for a lot less time.
At the start of summer, 2019, crews will go back to the tech center and handle construction work, finish work in the existing high school and work on the rest of the new addition. At the start of the 2019-2020 school year, Pfister said the plan would be for all the existing spaces in the high school to be available for use, in their new configuration, including the connector link to the tech center. Another reason for the schedule would be so the middle school students could be brought over to the tech center, or the remodeled classrooms, which would remove the middle school from operations beginning with that school year.
Starting with the summer of 2020, Pfister said all remaining work at the tech center, and the rest of the work at the high school would be completed by then, so at the start of the 2020-21 school year, all the students are in all of their remodeled spaces.
Pfister advised the remodel of Inman Primary would be handled early on in the construction process.
“The renovation would be done during the 2018-19 school year. It ties into the middle school move also, as one of the grade levels at Inman can move into the Inman space,” said Pfister.