The Columbus Municipal School District still has a long way to go with updating its facilities, but the board of trustees made progress during a special call work session Wednesday evening.
The board commissioned the PryorMorrow architectural firm in December to conduct a district wide facilities study. The results identified $96 million worth of needed improvements. Board President Telisa Young told The Dispatch in February that the board would only be pursuing around $30 million in improvements to avoid increasing the current tax rate. It would, however, recommit as many as 11.85 mills scheduled to expire from the tax rolls in April.
On Wednesday, PryorMorrow provided the board with an itemized list of needed improvements organized by school. The board went through each school and eliminated low priority items to winnow the projected overall cost. By the end of the nearly three-hour work session, they had reduced the total cost to $62.2 million — still more than twice their $30 million target.
Renovations that remain in play include work at each district campus, with the exceptions of Union Academy, which houses the alternative school and Brandon Central Services.
Young told The Dispatch the board would need to make some tough decisions moving forward to determine the rest of the chopping block.
“Our No. 1 concern is, of course, the safety and to make sure our facilities are conducive to a learning environment for our students,” Young said. “The feasibility study gave us a deep dive into what that entails, a little deeper than we anticipated. But we’re going to have to make those tough decisions, so that we can move forward.”
Items listed for each school ranged from minor updates, like replacing the windows at Sale Elementary, to major renovations such as restoring exterior walls or replacing entire parking lots. Items were eliminated if they could be pursued later or if the district’s maintenance department could handle the job instead.
Jose Arellano, managing principal architect with PryorMorrow, told the board that, aside from Cook Elementary and Columbus Middle School, the scope of improvements for each facility could be considered a “complete renovation.”
The board will meet again at 4:30 p.m. Monday to continue narrowing down the list of improvements that will be made. Young said the time will allow for each member to consider which remaining improvements are most imperative.
“Each board member will have the opportunity to look at that number and look at the scope of the work that was listed, so we can further meet our needs and come as close as possible to our goal of $30 million,” she said.
Renovation needs
The three most expensive areas of concern the study identified were Franklin Academy, Columbus High School and the CHS Athletic Complex.
In terms of estimated costs for all suggested improvements, the facilities would run the district $18.3 million, $20.4 million and $12.9 million, respectively.
The three facilities accounted for roughly 53% of the total $96 million the study suggested.
The board discussed different avenues for funding improvements at Franklin Academy given its historical relevance as the first free public school in the state. Arellano suggested either stacking grants from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History or asking the legislature for a special grant.
Repairs at Franklin Academy will be some of the most extensive, including restoring interior and exterior walls, reroofing and updating immediate life safety systems like the fire alarm and intercom.
Young said the age of the districts’ buildings, like Franklin, is one of the main contributors to the expensive undertaking.
“All of our buildings, with the exception of Stokes Beard and the middle school … because of our buildings being the age that they are, they are in need of work,” she said.
At Columbus High School and the athletic complex, renovation work could include projects as extensive as building an entirely new secure entrance at the high school and completely renovating fieldhouses at the athletic complex.
Young said the district’s maintenance team could not feasibly take care of these projects.
“There’s some things that need to be taken care of from a maintenance standpoint,” she said.
“Most of the things on the list are much further in scope than we have the capacity to do with our maintenance staff. And so in order to make sure our students and staff are safe, we don’t have much of a choice.”
Young told The Dispatch the board still intends to ask taxpayers to approve a bond that would fund the roughly $30 million in improvements.
The bond referendum would seek to replace the debt rolling off from a $22 million bond issued in 2009 that the district will make a final payment on in April.
The referendum would require 60% approval to pass.
“We’re in hopes of that because we see our district is in need,” she said. “With that in mind, I think we’re going to just stay focused on our students, staff and learning environments, so that we can further meet the needs of our district.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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