North Greene approves upgrades to elementary and Jr./Sr. High
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By Carmen Ensinger
Members of the North Greene School Board approved the contractual agreement with Omni Energy Partners to renovate portions of the elementary school at a cost not to exceed $2,707,948 at their Dec. 15 board meeting.
“The money for these renovations will be coming from ESSER III (Emergency and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds the district received,” Superintendent Mark Scott said. “We would expect this work to be done during the summer of 2022 and completed in time for the start of school.”
One of the major items on the list is remodeling the library/media center in the high school, turning a portion of it into a band and chorus room.
“This part of the renovation is going to allow us to bring back our band and chorus programs,” Scott said. “The outer part of the room will still have books so it will also still be utilized as a library.”
North Greene cut its music and band programs at the high school back in 2019 because of funding issues. But, thanks to ESSER funding, both of those programs will be coming back.
The funds will also allow for a new roof membrane on the senior high portion of the school and gymnasium. The school was built in 2002 and is original to the building.
For the junior high, which was just recently remodeled, two of the existing classrooms will be once again remodeled into new a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) room and a science lab. Additions in these rooms to accommodate these programs will include sinks and eye-wash stations.
At the elementary school, the lower level of the school will be renovated to converted into new band and art facilities. Scott said the plan is to turn the old boys locker room into an art room and some unused office space in that area will be converted into a band room.
The existing media center at the elementary school will be reconfigured into a special education center.
“We are providing special education services now,” Scott said. “But we have been using what had been used as storage rooms and this is going to give us a dedicated space for those classrooms.”
There are areas in the building which still contain asbestos so a portion of the renovation will include asbestos abatement of the VCT tile in the gym and multipurpose room.
To bring the school into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), three new ADA compliant commercial grade platform lifts will be installed throughout the school.
New LED lighting enhancements will be installed in the upper/lower c-wing, gym, multipurpose room and exterior wall perimeter as well as additional power outlets and circuits for the c-wing.
A new bipolar plasma ionization unit will be added to the HVAC system at the elementary to improve indoor air quality.
These units use air purification technologies to deactivate airborne viruses, such as COVID-19. These bipolar ionization devices create millions of positive and negative oxygen ions that, when released into the air, remove hydrogen molecules from the viral cells they come in contact with to inactivate them.
The board approved a bid from AngelTrax to provide surveillance cameras to all of the district’s 15 buses at a cost of around $36,000.
“We currently have cameras, but they are old and outdated,” Scott said. “Plus, we don’t’ have cameras on all of them. This will put new cameras on all of our buses.”
The board also approved Fitness World Basketball League to use the gym/multipurpose room at White Hall elementary on Sundays for practice.
Graduation dates have been set for both the high school and eighth grade promotion. High School will graduate on May 27 at 7 p.m. and eighth grade promotion will be on May 26 at 7 p.m.
In other action:
Accepted resignations from Derek Beams and Heather Northcutt.
Approved maternity leave for North Greene Elementary teacher Erin Bauler.
Appointed Megan Roberts as assistant volunteer softball coach.
Approved two resolutions to abate the one-cent sales tax on the 2017 and 2018 B bonds.
Adopted a resolution to participate in the TRS Supplemental Savings Plan.
Approved a Health Life Safety amendment to use Health Life Safety funds to replace the roof on the Jr./Sr. High.
