New Bremen board picks site for school

NEW BREMEN - School district officials have selected a site for a potential new K-8 building.

They're seeking to connect a new building onto the high school. The estimated local share for the plan is $13.9 million. Now that a site has been selected, officials will discuss square footage, design, function and curriculum to make more detailed plans. Plan must be finalized by November or December, treasurer Deb Meyer said.

Officials hope to put a levy for the project on the May 2, 2017, ballot. If approved, planning and building design would take about a year. Students would likely occupy the building in 2020, superintendent Andrea Townsend said this morning.

School board members on Wednesday chose "plan B" - one of four options - after a presentation by Garmann-Miller & Associates of Minster, the architecture and engineering firm doing pre-bond work.

It is the least costly option.

Plan A came in at $18.1 million and would have renovated part of the existing K-8 building and expanded the structure. Plan C would have cost $14.5 million and placed a new building north of the existing school. Plan D, the most expensive, was $20.1 million and would have renovated the entire existing elementary building.

Plan D was the most costly to the district because the existing building's size exceeds the amount the Ohio School Facilities Commission would fund.

Bradley Garmann of Garmann-Miller said initiating plan B would cause the least disruption to students. Plan D, in comparison, would have displaced students in phases over two years and used outside modules to hold classes during construction.

The decision came after some discussion by school board members. All members ultimately chose plan B as the best option, but Scott Bertke raised concern over losing space. The existing building contains 115,417 square feet. The new one would be 77,950 square feet, a difference of 37,467 square feet.

"I just want to look long-term," he said. "We have 35,000 square feet (more) right now. Financially, yes, plan B is the best, but if you add 35,000 square feet to that in new construction, the cost for that would put us at the same level as what it would cost us to completely renovate our existing space, which has that square footage."

Bertke was concerned that if future programs were added to boost enrollment, which has declined over the last 16 years, the new building would not have enough space to fit more students.

Townsend said future programs were taken into account in the program of requirements, which is required by the state when determining funding.

Middle school principal Jason Schrader said some classrooms sit empty for part of the day in the middle school. Meyer added the district likely wouldn't need that much extra space.

"There's no way you'd need 35,000," she said, adding while adding some additional space was possible, 35,000 square feet would be unnecessary. "We don't need that much, not even in the realm of possibilities in the future."

Board members also,

• accepted donations of $4,000 from the family of Troy Marker for the art department, $70,950 from James F. Dicke for the auditorium lighting upgrade and $46,550 from Crown for Project Lead the Way and The Cube program.

• accepted the resignation of Joe Huwer as intervention specialist and high school assistant football coach.

• approved a one-year contract for William Evans as the middle school LD teacher. Evans will also be the new assistant football coach.

• approved one-year contracts for Della Conradi and Laura Freels as cafeteria workers.

• revised several board policies.

• accepted a quote of $7,630 from Ohio School Plan for liability and violence insurance, a slight decrease from last year.

• approved a new five-year Tri Star Career Compact agreement.

• learned 97 percent of students had passed the Ohio Graduation Test.

• learned the end of year enrollment was 752 students. Last year's was 791 students. Enrollment has declined each year from the 2005-2006 school year enrollment of 938.