School projects fall under budget

Talk about it

Proposed additions to Lincoln and Jefferson elementary schools came in at more than $660,000 less than initially estimated, which prompted Dickinson Public Schools officials to accept the lowest responsible bidders along with all alternate bid items for the projects at a DPS Board meeting Monday evening.

The alternate bids, which include a kitchen remodel and expansion of a gymnasium among other items at the two schools, were collected along with general construction bids, but were contingent on how much the main projects cost and how much the bids for the alternate projects were.

Including all of the alternate projects, the expansion project at Lincoln will cost about $1.6 million and the Jefferson project will cost about $1.2 million.

Initially, school officials estimated a cost of about $3.5 million for the construction of both projects. On Monday, the combined project costs, including all of the alternate bids, was revealed to be about $2.8 million, a difference of over $660,000.

About $2.2 million in stimulus money is earmarked to go toward the Jefferson project, said Vince Reep, DPS assistant superintendent.

“The only limitation there were that it (the project) could not exceed 25 percent of existing building, we’re at 24.9 (percent),” Reep said. “We did our math so that we could get as large of a facility added on without jeopardizing those funds.”

The remaining balance for the projects will come from the district’s general and capital projects funds, he added.

The district is also submitting a grant to the Energy Development Impact Office for the proposed additions to Jefferson Elementary and Lincoln Elementary for about $500,000 or about 13 percent of the cost.

Reep said construction will begin on both projects as soon as the ground thaws.

In other matters:

* An evaluation of DPS superintendent Doug Sullivan was satisfactory, said Dean Rummel, school board president. The evaluation will go into Sullivan’s personnel file.

“All five board members marked all three areas that we rated satisfactory,” Rummel said. “There were a lot of excellent comments that came out of the five evaluations.”

* Sullivan said last week the administration concluded it would be most appropriate to have two classrooms of fifth grade assigned to Berg, due to a need for additional classrooms. The change will take effect during the 2010-2011 school year, he added.

* The board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between DPS and Dickinson Diamonds fast-pitch softball at Dickinson High School for the 2009-2010 school year.

* Dorothy Martinson, director of student services for Dickinson Public Schools, discussed the annual performance report from the Department of Public Instruction, which evaluates the performance of schools who provide services to handicapped students. Martinson said she received notification Monday that the school district is at the “meets requirement” level.

To view the budget for the expansion project, along with items included in the alternate bids, visit http://www.dickinson.k12.nd.us/.

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