The Shadow
BY JEROME JOHNSON
Local News Editor
Covington City School Board Vice Chairwoman Cindy Bennett led the first meeting of 2015 due to the absence of Chairwoman Tammy Scruggs-Duncan Monday night.
Scruggs-Duncan was absent due to circumstances beyond her control.
Bennett’s first act while in charge of the meeting was to pay respects to recently departed Covington High School student, Abby Baker, with a moment of silence.
Andy Grant of OWPR Architects and Engineers, presented a Covington High School Facilities Study.
Grant’s presentation covered the details involving renovations and improvements that are set to be made to Covington High School.
The first part of Grant’s presentation focused on site considerations.
Grant listed in his report that additional off-site parking spaces will be added, handicapped parking signage and striping would be added, the storm drainage system would be replaced, several sidewalks and curbs in moderate to poor condition will be replaced, and replacing pavement, including making the loading dock area fully concrete.
The report estimates that all the site consideration issues will cost $375,000 to fix.
The next part of Grant’s presentation focused on Building “A.”
Building “A” was built in 1939 and is currently 56,700 square feet.
Repairs for building “A” will be the replacement of the existing single ply membrane roof that was installed in 1990.
Grant said in the report that this roof has exceeded its life expectancy.
At $9 per square foot, the tearing off of the whole roof, and the addition of overflow scuppers, the estimated cost of fixing the roof of building “A” would cost an estimated $275,000.
The report also documented more repairs that are needed for building “A.”
The door hardware (locksets) and the non ADA compliant existing hardware would need to be replaced at $1,000 per door, which brings the estimated total to $115,000.
Building “A” is also in need of asbestos removal.
According to the report, there is 3,500 square feet of asbestos, at a rate of $12 per square foot, the estimated total of the removal will be $42,000.
The last repair in building “A” is the replacement of the kitchen and cafeteria ceilings.
The report states that there is 5,700 square feet of ceiling that is in poor condition.
At $6.60 per square foot, the estimated cost to replace the ceiling is $38,000.
With all of the renovations and repairs for building “A,” the grand total would be $470,000.
The second building that the report focused on, was building “B.”
Added on in 1962, this building covers 46,369 square feet.
Just like in building “A,” the single ply membrane roof that was installed in 1990 has exceeded its life expectancy, and will need to be torn down and have over flow scuppers added on on top of the replacement of the roof.
At $9 per square foot, the estimated cost of replacing the roof on building “B” would be $385,000.
Additional repairs and renovations to building “B” includes replacing the door hardware (locksets) and existing, non-compliant ADA hardware at a estimated cost of $86,500 ($1,000 per door.), vinyl composition tile and base in classrooms at an estimate of $30,000 or $2.50 per square foot, and replacing the suspended acoustical tile ceilings in locker rooms, classrooms, and corridors at a cost of $137,500 or $5.00 per square foot, including demolition.
The grand total for the architectual work for building “B” will total $639,000.
The most recent building added on to Covington High School, building “C,” which was added in 1990 covers 3,604 square feet.
The roof on this building, just like “A” and “B,” have exceeded its life expectancy and will need a complete tear off, replacement and addition of overflow scuppers.
At the same price of $9 per square foot, just like the other two buildings, the new roof for building “C” will be the lowest price of $25,000.
The final changes for building “C” include a $10,000 ($1,000 per door) replacement of door hardware and non-ADA compliant hardware, new vinyl composition tile and base in corridors costing $4,000 ($4 per square foot), which could be lowered if bid with a larger project, and the addition of a double door and fire partition in the stair tower, which would need the removal of the mechanical smoke hatch, roof patching, and the addition of new doors and wall costing a total of $14,000.
The grand total for the architectual work of building “C” will cost $53,000.
The auditorium and gymnasium were also included in the report.
The auditorium is set to have the current seats replaced and rows changed to maximize the capacity.
At that rate, the new capacity for the auditorium will be at 667 with 22” wide seats and 36” row spacing.
The balcony of the auditorum would also have a minor change made, reducing the capacity from 224 to 220.
The row spacing in the balcony would also be changed to maximize the capacity.
The total cost of the seating repairs for the auditorium which includes the new seats at $359 per seat and demolition would cost $240,000.
The final bit of work for the auditorium includes lighting replacement, and sound and stage rigging would cost $700,000.
That $700,000 cost could possibly increase 30-40 percent based upon the quality and design of the stage components.
With all of those factors, the total cost for the auditorium work could cost $940,000.
The gymnasium will also see several renovations take place.
The report lists that six, operational basketball goals will be put in, new wall padding would be installed, new window shades would be put in, new lighting, sound, and scoreboard systems would be installed, and the wood floor replacement would happen at a cost of $140,000.
The boys’ and girls’ locker rooms would also have improvements.
Those improvements will include new acoustical ceilings, space reconfiguration to accomodate handicapped individuals, addition of new lighting, and the reconfiguration of shower areas will cost $80,000.
The grand total of the renovations to the auditorium, gymnasium, and locker rooms, which were deemed support facilities, will total $1,160.000.
New construction was also discussed in Grant’s report, the new construction included stage and dressing room additions and alterations, gymnasium and weight room additions, making a new bus loop and enhancing the parking adjacent to West Oak Street.
The stage and dressing room changes included replacing the existing HVAC system with a quieter, more efficient system, and ductwork relocation.
Also in the stage and dressing room changes was to place a new loading dock with an overhead door, adding 20’ to the depth of the stage and renovating the ticket office.
Those support facility changes would cost $1,300,000.
The changes to the weight room and gymnasium would include improvement on the weight room and training room and making a new gymnasium, thus making the existing gymnasium an auxiliary gymnasium.
The cost for the gymnasium work would be $2,900,000.
The bus loop and parking enhancement could cost $775,000.
The total costs for all of the new construction will cost $4,975,000.
The final changes listed in the report all relate to the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing aspects of the school.
For heating, ventilation, and air conditioning changes, plans were made to replace the 1960 boiler, adding make up air to the kitchen exhaust hood, replacement of the ventilation systems in the gymnasium and cafeteria, providing more VRF systems to serve band, the resource classroom, restrooms, and corridors, replacing rooftop heat pump units with new gas fired heat for the auditorium and stage, and the addition of new DDC controls to monitor the new VRF systems and existing pneumatic systems.
The estimated cost for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning changes will be $620,000.
An estimated $100,000 will go towards the following plumbing renovations, the removal of the existing large storage tank and installation of new instantaneous gas-fired water heaters in various locations, addtion of new backflow prevention devices at all water entrances, replacement of plumbing fixtures with automatic detection type, hot water going to all restrooms, replacement of galvanized riser pipes at the restrooms, and upgrades to the roof drainage systems to increase the drainage capacity.
The electrical repairs, at a cost of $582,000 are as follows, new 480/277 volt service will be added to replace the existing electrical configuration, as the current system has reached capacity, replacement of light fixtures for new or replaced ceilings, addition of a new emergency generator to provide for emergency lighting, new post top mounted lighting fixtures to be added along the front egress paths of the school, cut-off type area light fixtures will be provided in parking areas and around the school’s perimeter rear, new addressable ADA compliant fire alarms to be installed that complies with National Fire Protection Association code 72, a fire alarm system to be configured to transmit alarm and trouble signals at an approved central station system, new communication systems with telephone handsets utilizing VoIP technology in each classroom and staff areas allowing two-way communication, and a new computer network allowing integration of data and communication systems.
To conclude the Covington High School report, Grant gave a summary of the costs.
Grant stated that the total cost for all renovations, improvements, and construction would total $8,974,00.
Grant also stated that with the addition of a 10 percent contingency costing $897,400 and A/E Fees of 6.75 percent totaling $605,745, the grand total for the entire project would cost $10,477,145.
After the report presentation, the school board was presented withthe following under new business:
— The local alternative assessment plan that is given as an alternative to SOL’s was approved;
— School Board member Ron Morrissette suggested that outdoor air conditioning units needed cage-type fencing to prevent damage;
— Tamala Preston, substitute teacher, Tonya Easton, ESL tutor (Edgemont Primary School), and Justin Jefferson, substitute teacher were all approved personnel.
