Major renovations at NKES part of superintendent’s FY2016-17 CIP proposal

With no clear-cut vision on a new elementary school in sight, New Kent superintendent of schools Dave Myers turned his focus to improving the current ones in the county. A proposal recommended to the county’s school board has put emphasis on one of those schools.

As part of a proposed $15 million FY2016-17 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), Myers and Director of Finance Haynie Morgheim recommended a major overhaul and renovation of New Kent Elementary School during the school board’s Jan. 11 regular meeting.

“That school is 43 years old,” Myers said to school board members. “We have been going around and receiving pricing from a variety of people and places, including DOE (Department of Education) about the costs to do an overhaul and this is the figure that we’ve come up with.”

That figure of $13,642,550 is among the major proposals in the school CIP for the upcoming fiscal year.

“We have been working with the county on the issue and the possibility of these renovations,” the superintendent concluded.

Another big ticket item in the $15,059,217 CIP requests for next year is relocation of the maintenance shop. Currently, the shop is located on Route 249 (New Kent Highway) between New Kent Elementary School and the Old Historic School.

“We are going to collaborate with the county on the possibility to move that facility,” Morgheim commented. “We know that specific area has been looked at as prime real estate for parking.”

Relocating the maintenance shop is estimated to cost $558,775. Other proposed projects in New Kent schools’ CIP are bus replacement ($275,208), technology one-to-one conversion ($200,000), sealing pavement for entranceways ($137,684), replacing windows ($90,000), lighting ($70,000), and HVAC units ($60,000) at New Kent Middle School, and miscellaneous improvements (i.e. painting) throughout all schools ($25,000).

School board members will consider the CIP and take action at a future work session to approve the recommendation.

In a related matter, Director of Maintenance Tim Pollock updated school board members on projects in the current CIP year. Among the top projects being completed are the tennis courts at New Kent High School. According to Pollock, the courts are 90 percent complete and should be done prior to spring sports season commencing on Feb. 15.

Other major projects that are expected to be worked on during the fiscal year are replacement of the gym floor, bleachers, and sound system in the middle school, replacement of the high school scoreboard, resurfacing of the track, and HVAC replacement/fire alarm PA at the middle school.