GCSC building projects moving forward quickly

After more than a year of planning, facility upgrades are taking shape at Greencastle Community Schools.

Supt. Jeff Gibboney recently gave GCSC parents an update on the progress, noting that work would begin this week at the Greencastle High School/McAnally Center campus.

“We expect to begin transitioning to an active construction site,” Gibboney said.

In order to keep things safe, Gibboney’s message communicated changes to the operations and campus.

“Please be prepared to encounter temporary fencing, temporary entrances and/or being inconvenienced at times,” Gibboney said. “It’s a small price to pay for what will be an amazing educational space for years to come.”

Chief on the list is that the temporary entrance for students, staff and families is moving to the south of the normal main entrance, a status that may last well into the 2022-23 school year, as the main entrance at the northeast corner of the school will be closing for construction.

Additionally, the main parking lot entrance off of Washington Street as well as the Percy Julian Drive entrance to the student lot will close. In their place, a temporary entrance to the student lot will be created off of Washington Street. Residents may remember a similar arrangement when Percy Julian was repaved in 2011.

Additionally, the construction will prevent normal access to the baseball and softball fields, so those attending home games are asked to park east and south of McAnally and walk through the Harbison Stadium entrance and between the home bleachers and McAnally to make it to the fields.

All of Gibboney’s updates went hand-in-hand with a report he and Mike Montgomery of krM Architects gave at the most recent school board meeting.

Montgomery reported that things are going well with the contractor on the project and the high school-McAnally project – which will include a new connector between the two buildings – is set to be completed by the end of 2023.

Highlights of the GHS upgrades include new science labs, an upgraded media center, updated entrance and various new athletic facilities and locker rooms in the area of the new connector.

But the other school buildings are set for upgrades as well, with bids due for upgrades at Deer Meadow, Ridpath and Tzouanakis due on April 12.

Chief among these upgrades will be secure entrances at the three schools, each of which presents a different level of challenges.

Work will also go into sealing the envelope of Tzouanakis, as moisture has been a problem at the school for years, most notably three years ago when students were displaced from the school for a large portion of first semester due to mold problems.

Upgrades at Greencastle Middle School will come last, with a major reworking needed for a secure entrance, but also media center and science lab renovations due as well.

Bids for the middle school project are due in June.

Unfortunately, the necessary upgrades at the school have come at a steeper price than originally anticipated a year or so ago – a problem manifesting itself in pretty much any construction project these days.

For GCSC, this means two things. First of all, the proposal to move the baseball and softball diamonds to south of Veterans Memorial Highway on the transportation center property will have to wait a few years.

“We wanted to focus on our academic spaces, focus on security and finish the work at the high school,” Gibboney said.

In the meantime, construction work will include new access to the current fields by way of the tennis courts area off of Washington Street.

Secondly, the current budget for the project will not fully fund the construction, even without the new fields.

As such, a preliminary hearing took place on additional proposed construction.

“We heard overwhelming support from our community and our public,” Gibboney said. “In order to fully complete work that we hear that our stakeholders want us to complete, it’s necessary for us to issue some bonds.”

During the hearing and resolution, one fact shared was that the school has recently maintained a debt service rate of about 62 cents. The issuance of the new $5.5 million in bonds should keep the rate in this range.

The board approved the resolution to move forward with the new project.

The additional money should give the corporation the needed funds to complete the current group of projects.

In other business:

• The board approved moving forward with a $188,000 Federal Emergency Activity Fund Grant to pay for new devices at Tzouanakis Intermediate School.

Technology Director Corey Hill applied for the funding, which will pay for replacement devices at the school for the next four years.

The devices could arrive during the summer, but if not they will be phased in during the 2022-23 school year.

• March students of the month were honored. The recognized students include Braden Mann of Greencastle High School, Landon Miller of Greencastle Middle School, Mia Cochran of Tzouanakis, Isla Tyson of Deer Meadow and Lenora Hazzard of Ridpath.

• The board also approved a number of personnel items, including:

Retirement: Robin Johnson as GHS art teacher, effective May 27.

Resignations: Samantha Manning as bus driver, Wesly Stone as GMS cafeteria assistant and Caroline Woods as Deer Meadow cafeteria assistant.

Termination: Dylan Owns as Tzouanakis custodian.

Leaves of absence: Beva Miller, intermittent FMLA as Tzouanakis third-grade teacher; Frank Schafer, FMLA as Tzouanakis custodian; Ellen Ellerman as bus driver

New hires: Lori Shuck as Deer Meadow noon aide, Sarah Burdine as Tzouanakis instructional assistant, Francisco Berrios as 21st Century Community Learning Center Instructor at GMS.

Substitutes: Deborah Rode as substitute teacher, Wesley Stone as substitute cafeteria assistant, Dawn Shoemaker as substitute custodian.

Extracurricular activities: Craig Whitaker hired as GHS assistant baseball coach, Chris Wilson hired as GHS JV baseball coach, John Parmley approved as GHS assistant boys’ golf coach, Matthew McClellan and Rachel Crosby approved as GMS assistant track coach; Rob Worman hired as GMS golf coach, Todd Zeller approved as GMS assistant golf coach.