Renovations for the Baldwin County Board of Education central office are slated to begin in May and finish in August.
The central office, located off the US Highway 441 bypass, has been in the pre-construction phase since January.
The renovations are set to begin with moving on May 24 and end on Aug. 25.
Last week, the Baldwin County Board of Education approved a $3.62 million bid with a guaranteed maximum price from Garbutt Construction Company of Dublin for the project. The amount covers metal framing, drywall, insulation, electrical work, new audience seating for the board’s meeting room, roofing, painting, plumbing and more.
At the March school board meeting, the board heard from Phil Best, director of risk management at Garbutt Construction. He talked about how busy they were getting prices for the renovation, receiving competitive bids, and developing the summary that showed how they reached the $3.6 million figure.
“That’s all inclusive of the new air conditioning systems, the new roof, all the new upgraded finishes in the board office,” said Best. “It would be similar to renovations we’ve done in the past (for Baldwin).
“As far as the schedule goes, we would start as quickly as possible. We are thinking sometime at the end of May. Our goal would be to get into (the meeting room) first. We want to try to save as much storage costs as possible, so our goal is to demolish this area, bring all of the furniture and stuff we want to store on-site so we can save that money we would have to spend for containers. Go ahead and start demolishing out in the office space, get those rooms ready to start putting back new work, and then be pulling out of the office space by … the 17th, 19th (of July) so that gives you time to get in and enjoy your new space … and get ready for the new school year.
“After we get focused on that area, we would come back (in the meeting area) and finish up the board room, get all the new seating installed, all the new lights, all the new finishes installed, and turn that over to you in August. There would be a little bit of a delay for this area, but the delay is directly related to saving the money to store the furniture. We are ready to get started.”
Baldwin Superintendent Dr. Noris Price said Deputy Superintendent Matt Adams put together a team to make a plan for relocating the employees who work in the central office.
The renovations also mean school board meetings will require a temporary new home, and Price said that could be at either Baldwin High School or Oak Hill Middle School. In all, she said the displacement would last four months.
“I think the fact we are going to get a renovated building is worth it,” she said.
“The easiest part of this whole process is us meeting wherever we might meet,” said board member John Jackson. “But everything’s run out of here. I look forward to seeing the plan next month.”
Another action under new business taken by the board of education Tuesday is a change to the first day of the 2024-25 school year from July 31 to Aug. 1.
Price said in looking at new teacher orientation and when teachers were returning, the decision was made to shift over opening day one. This action removes March 17, 2025, as a professional learning day. Pre-planning is July 24-26 and July 29-31.
Price, during her superintendent’s report, read a report from Communities in Schools (CIS) regarding the Read United literacy program. This is a tutoring program, which had 119 students from Midway Hills Primary and Lakeview Primary enrolled in the 2022-23 school year. The end-of-the-year MAP Reading Data showed 49.6% reading at grade level, well above the goal of 25%. The number from the 2021-22 school year was 33.3%.
From 22-23, kindergarten was 69.7%, first grade was 45% and second grade was 39.1%. Those in first and second grade who increased their reading level from the start of the term to the end was 96.5%.
“That is the program that (CIS) is investing in, and they tutor the kids on a weekly basis,” said Price. “We are seeing some really good gains. This is done during the school day.”