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Renovation of the Floyd S. Kay vocation center may be delayed a little, but officials are hoping that dropping a phased approach to construction will save both time and money.
Spectrum Design, an architectural company based out of Roanoke, was recently given the go-ahead by Superintendent Phillip Thompson to move into the next phase of development after finalizing the schematic design for the vocational center at Rockbridge County High School.
Thompson gave that update to the Rockbridge County School Board at its February board meeting.
This subsequent phase of design requires an intricately detailed blueprint that will adequately inform the builder of what they will need to actually construct the project, Thompson later told The News-Gazette. This phase will take a little longer than anticipated as the Spectrum team scours the FSK building for any possible nuances that could affect construction.
“The design process itself is taking a little bit longer and having to get into the building to see what it’s going to take in order to do it. Before you can design it and try to put it out to bid for construction, you have to know what it’s going to take,” Thompson said.
“For example, there is more asbestos in Floyd S. Kay than we thought,” he continued. “That’s going to take a little more time. You have to put those types of contingencies in there to make sure we abate properly all of the asbestos that’s in there before you can truly start doing anything. So, it’s just little things like that as they are continuing to go through the building with their engineers that they’re just covering in this project.”
Thompson expects that the original May start-date for construction will be slightly delayed. However, as development continues, Thompson feels confident that the project is still progressing at a steady pace.
The administration has decided to disregard phasing plans, giving the construction team a 12-month period to get the job done. Completing the project in one go will be more timely and financially efficient.
Officials had been considering a phased approach, in which students would remain in portions of the building while construction gets underway in other areas. Then when those areas were complete, the students would be shifted there while the rest of the construction takes place.
“If we are able to do [it without phasing], that means we’re going to be able to this renovation more quickly, less phasing, less moving things around two or three times, and it’ll stretch our dollar even further in that it will be cheaper,” Thompson said at the School Board meeting.
He continued, “If we’re able to do it without phasing, if it’s a one time-shot – ‘you come in, and this is your building, do it’ – ultimately, I think we’ll get a better product out of it than if we have to waste money and phase, [than if we] have two or three different phases of construction to where we have to move kids around. It’s wasting time [and] it’s wasting money if we can avoid it. I feel pretty confident that we can probably make that happen, but it’s not a done deal yet.”
Thompson is committed to vacating the entire FSK building while it undergoes construction. While there is yet to be a solid plan for maneuvering students throughout this process, administration is closer to finding a solution. Thompson is hoping to avoid mobile classroom trailers as they are expensive to lease.
“We would rather not take money from the project for the rental of trailers, because it’s all on the same budget,” he told The News-Gazette.
School officials are hoping that students will be able to spend some of their school day on-site with community entities who could give them firsthand career and technical education. Working with community partners and businesses will be particularly helpful for classes that need a larger workshop space, Thompson noted.
When the CTE classes need a simple classroom space, Thompson believes, those needs can be met within the high school space itself. For example, if an English classroom is unoccupied for fourth period, a fourth period culinary class could use that empty space to fulfill its classroom needs, Thompson told The News-Gazette.
Administrators will create a more developed plan for next year that will still provide a stable educational experience, he said.
