sjbondinfo.com

January 13, 2012 Construction Update

sjbondinfo — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:38:01 +0000

Dry weather conditions and unseasonably warm temperatures are good news for construction crews working on the new football field for St. Johns Public Schools.

Heavy equipment operators have been busy in the past two weeks, building up berms and preparing the field that is situated slightly east and south of the original site. The berms give the field a “bowl-like” look, making it appear lower than the old site. When completed, the new field will be at about the same level as before.

Crews were also able to set footings for the team building that will be constructed on the north end of the field.

Cooperation from Mother Nature is helping bring field construction back on schedule. Use of the new field during the 2012-13 season remains as a goal.

Bid opening for work on the new addition and building renovations at St. Johns High School was set for January 10. Officials from Clark Construction will have a number of bid proposals for work in both areas ready for the January 23, 2012, school board meeting.

Site work is in progress on the west side of the high school near the gym entrance and cafeteria courtyard. All trees that had been planted in the area over the years in connection with SADD and MADD organizations were temporarily relocated and are being cared for by Plum Line Landscape and Design. They will be replanted when the building project is completed. The SJHS Spirit Rock was also removed and stored for future use.

November 2011 Update

sjbondinfo — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:17:43 +0000

Parking lots and site improvements are completed at East Olive Elementary, Eureka Elementary, and Riley Elementary. These improvements included new site lighting and redesigning and paving of the lots.

Demolition and site utility work began this summer on the St. Johns High School project. The old bleachers in the high school gymnasium were removed and replaced in August 2011.

The new Middle School NOC Room renovation project is now complete. This work included creating new office space for the district’s IT department, and a room where the district’s head end equipment is housed. This work was coordinated with the Fiber Optic Technology project which made it possible to transfer the head end equipment from the high school to the middle school. Building and site planning for the St. Johns Middle School is ongoing. Construction is scheduled to begin the summer of 2012.

Three technology projects are nearing completion. These projects provide new fiber optic lines, computers and equipment, projectors, screens, carts and telephones. This equipment was installed in all of the buildings throughout the district, except for the high school. New equipment for the high school will be installed as each area of construction is completed. Other technology projects are being discussed. Final decisions are being made for the district printer project. This project will be out for bid soon.

A new propane fueling station is being installed at the Operations Building. The concrete slab, bollard and electrical rough-ins are complete. The new propane tank system is expected to arrive the week of November 28, 2011.

Site work and foundation work will begin soon on the new high school academic wing addition and football field renovation projects.

An Update from Dr. Ladouceur

sjbondinfo — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:15:04 +0000

The high school building and renovation project is on budget and on time. It has been a while since I have provided the community with a progress report on the project. I apologize but please understand that this was done on purpose as things were changing constantly over the past few weeks. Any information that I could report out to the community would not have been accurate the next day. A lot of good, hard work has been done on your behalf and the project is now ready to go.

Our community passed a $64 million bond in May 2010. Architects and engineers have planned and designed academic classrooms, athletic facilities, elementary parking lots, the middle school roof and the renovation of the high school itself. It was very important to get this phase of the project correct. We have given it all of the time that it needed and it has pushed all of our patience to watch long days of good weather pass without getting a shovel in the ground. I am adamant though that we had to wait. A project as large and complex as this one cannot begin without everyone being comfortable with where we are going and exactly how we are going to get there.

A wrinkle occurred for us a month ago and that confirmed why the planning process is so important. During these tough economic times we are able to get incredible value for the taxpayers’ money that we are spending. To that end we pressure hard to wring the value from every dollar before it is spent. Six weeks ago we believed that we had planned more building than the bond money would allow so we cut $3 million from the project. Bids for the entire project were received on Wednesday September 28 and, unfortunately, we found that we were still $5 million over in spite of all of our work. We went back to the drawing board, pushed even harder, and redesigned portions of the project to bring everything back in line with the budget.

The project will be rebid in smaller packages over the next few months but the Board of Education awarded the contracts for foundations and site work allowing the actual construction phase to get underway. This means that the groundwork for the academic wing, the swimming pool and the gymnasium as well as the football field will get underway immediately. Whether or not the football field is ready for next season will depend entirely on the arrival of next spring.

I hope that this answers a lot of your questions. If not please feel free to contact me at 989-224-4001 or ladouceurk@sjredwings.org with any concerns that you have.

ISI Awarded Computer Bid

sjbondinfo — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:13:03 +0000

ISI was awarded the bid for the purchase of new DELL workstations. All staff workstations will be replaced in all buildings, except for the high school. New High School staff workstations will be phased in as the construction at that building progresses.

Telephone System Update

sjbondinfo — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:53:59 +0000

The Technology Department met with building administrators the week of May 16 to determine specific details for programming our existing telephone extensions, homework hotlines, and voicemail.

Multimedia Devices Walkthrough

sjbondinfo — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:51:01 +0000

A building walkthrough was completed the week of May 23rd. Administrators, Technology Department staff, and vendors toured each building to determine the placement of multimedia projectors and technology carts in the classrooms. Also evaluated was the type of sound system needed for the classrooms and public meeting areas, such as gymnasiums.

NOC Construction Begins

sjbondinfo — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:29:21 +0000

Crews are on site to begin construction of the new Network Operation Center (NOC) at the St. Johns Middle School. The NOC will be completed and fully operational the first week of July 2011.

Cable Move Started

sjbondinfo — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:47:28 +0000

May 4, 2011 – The cabling vendor was on site today to start moving network cabling from the high school to the middle school. This cabling work is necessary because district servers currently housed at the high school will be moved to the middle school.

Classroom Multi-Media

sjbondinfo — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:02:51 +0000

The specification for this work is out to vendors and bids will be opened on May 5, 2011. This includes the purchase and installation of new classroom projectors, screens, interactive wireless tablets, document cameras, equipment carts, voice and multi-media amplification and device control systems. This work will begin this summer in all buildings except . . . → Read More: Classroom Multi-Media

Staff Devices

sjbondinfo — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:59:57 +0000

The specification for this work is out to vendors and bids will be opened on April 20, 2011. This includes the purchase and installation of new staff computers.