Superintendent John Kronour said the project is roughly $4 million under budget, which does not include an extra $1 million that was put in reserve. The extra $4 million in funds can be used toward additional projects, including turf fields at both campuses, a support building for the Northeastern Athletic Complex, shelter houses for outdoor learning and bleachers at the Kenton Ridge site.
“One good thing that came out of COVID is we came out with dollars to be underbudget,” Kronour said at a forum held Monday to solicit community ideas.
Some ideas community members also mentioned at the forum included new fences around the softball fields and a safer way for kids to get out of classrooms if something should happen..
Kronour said the district has to make sure all work in the new buildings is completed before adding projects in case they run into something that might cost more money. He said they cannot commit to specific additional projects just yet.
The new Kenton Ridge site will be a three-story building and the new Northeastern site will be a two-story building. Both buildings will have separate entries for the high school and elementary school side.
“We’re on schedule right now... and that would be for us to open the Northeastern building at the beginning of the school year in 2022, Kenton Ridge at the beginning of the 2023 school year,” Kronour said.
The Kenton Ridge building is a year behind Northeastern because is it “quite a bit larger.” Northeastern has around 1,100 students and Kenton Ridge around 2,400 students.
The district is spending $42 million on the Northeastern site and $57 million on Kenton Ridge building. One of the new buildings will be located on the northeastern side of the district, adjacent to the current South Vienna school, and the other building will be on the property near the current Kenton Ridge High School.
South Vienna is slated for demolition as soon as they can, Kronour said. The other four buildings - Northeastern, Kenton Ridge, Rolling Hills and Northridge - have been financed for demolition.
“We need input on whether or not all buildings should come down, or keep this building, gym, auditorium... or it doesn’t make sense to keep any of the buildings,” Kronour said. “If we keep a building and can’t maintain it the way it needs to be maintained, then it becomes an eyesore for the community.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Kronour said the land that the buildings sit on is also a part of the discussion. He said they can take the buildings down and keep the land or put it up for sale.
“We don’t want to put our school finances in jeopardy just to keep a building,” he said.
One community member reminded people that they passed the bond issue because the schools weren’t in good enough shape. They said it would cost a lot of money to repurpose Northeastern, so they feel the district should demolish the building.
$120M- Total cost of the two new Northeastern Schools
$42M - Cost of Northeastern building
$57M - Cost of Kenton Ridge building
$4M - Amount the construction project is under budget
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