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Carmichaels renovation underway

By James Witte op-Ed Editor 4 min read
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The Carmichaels Junior/Senior High School will begin part of it’s renovation on April 14, where construction will start on a new cafeteria and kitchen, and Carmichaels Area School District Superintendent James Craig Baily is excited.

“The maintenance department that we have has kept the building in excellent shape up to this point, but it’s a lot of infrastructure with the water lines, asbestos in the floor and things like that, that really has to be changed,” said Baily.

Renovation of the junior high school will begin after the end of the current school year on June 2.

Bailey stated that they’ll hand the junior high over to the contractors and “they’re pretty much going to gut it and rebuild it. And we’ve been in the design phase for almost two years now as to what we want to put in that building. It’s going to have a whole new look. Inside and outside.”

Once the junior high is completed, which will take a little over a year according to Baily, then work will begin on the senior high school.

Overall, the project is expected to last about a year-and-a-half, according to Baily.

Some of the renovations will include a new boiler system for both buildings, a new gymnasium floor in the senior high school, painting the ceiling of the gym, relocation of the band room, new LED lighting district wide, and an upgrade on the electrical infrastructure. In addition, the school will have Wi-fi connectivity.

The cost of the renovations is just under $14 million and that was $1.5 million under budget, said Baily.

“We were very pleased with that,” said Baily. “And that’s even putting in some of the add-ons that we didn’t know if we could afford until the bids came in. We put everything in it that we had; it’s our whole laundry list and we still saved $1.5 million.”

This will be the first renovation for the school district in its history. The junior high school was built in 1928 and was the Cumberland Township High School at that time.

“It was a very elaborate building of it’s day in 1928,” said Baily. “It even had a central vacuuming system in it.”

According to Baily, the school district conducted a feasibility test two-and-a-half years ago on the possibility of a renovation project and an architect recommended that the district renovated, not tear down the junior high school because it was as solidly built as any modern buildings.

“That encouraged us to go ahead and keep the culture of the area, that 1928 building, but completely upgrading, remodeling, infrastructure and a face lift.”

The senior high school was then built in 1965, and with the exception of a renovation of the junior high school’s auditorium by the school’s maintenance staff five years ago, both buildings have been untouched since.

To help relieve some of the problems that will come with renovations while still having classes, 10 portable classrooms will be brought in and placed next to the library and Strawberry Alley, the road located next to the school, which will be closed for the duration of the project.

Following the completion of the renovation project to the junior/senior high school, a small renovation will begin on the elementary school, which is still in the planning stages.

“We’re not cutting any corners when it comes to cost for down the road for the budget,” said Baily.

The school district will receive a reimbursement rate from the state for about $7.4 million.

“We’re going to use that to make sure that the taxpayers can benefit tax-wise for the building’s operation.”

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