School district keeping various construction projects on schedule and on budget

Lawrence school board members, from left, Marcel Harmon, Shannon Kimball and daughter Hannah, Rick Ingram, and Kris Adair, far right, listen to librarian media consultant Jennifer Williams discuss areas of new construction and renovations at Langston Hughes Elementary School, 1101 George Williams Way, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014.

Lawrence school district officials on Tuesday toured the newly refurbished Langston Hughes Elementary, the first of all 21 brick-and-mortar instructional buildings to complete its makeover as part of a $92.5 million bond issue.

“We are appreciative of everything,” said Principal Jackie Mickel. “I think we get the best of both worlds. The kids get a new feel at school and haven’t lost anything.”

The $92.5 million bond issue voters that approved in 2013 will bring improvements to every school in the Lawrence district, as well as create a new College and Career Center along the 2900 block of Haskell Avenue.

Langston Hughes, 1101 George Williams Way, is the first school to be filed away in the “done” category by Superintendent Rick Doll. He said Tuesday that projects at 10 other schools are currently active, with all of them on schedule and on budget.

All but one of those schools, Kennedy Elementary, is expected to be completed by August 2015. Kennedy is slated for January 2016.

“We’re feeling pretty good about that,” Doll said.

Meanwhile, the projects for 10 other schools (Sunset Hill, Woodlawn, Pinckney, Deerfield, Schwegler, Broken Arrow, Quail Run, Prairie Park, Sunflower and Lawrence High School) are still in the design stages and will not begin construction until 2015.

Langston Hughes received four new classrooms –two are tornado-safe — and additional office space. The school also got a revamped entryway with increased security, which every school will also get.

District officials set a guaranteed maximum price of $2.9 million worth of improvements at Langston Hughes. Other projects are more extensive, like the one at Cordley Elementary, with a maximum price of $7.5 million, that calls for a gutted interior to make way for more classroom space.

Shannon Kimball, president of the Lawrence school board, was among the group touring Langston Tuesday. She said she was impressed with the increased “flexible space” the school has now, referring to easy-to-move furniture and two new classrooms that provide extra space for break-out groups.

Doll said every elementary school would also be receiving at least one additional classroom of that sort, called “flex spaces.”

Kimball was also pleased with the school’s entryway. Visitors now must walk through a first set of doors and communicate with a receptionist through a window before the last set of doors are unlocked.

“It seems to still be a welcoming place for families,” said Kimball, who has two children attending Langston Hughes. “I don’t feel like there’s any kind of barrier, but I know for a fact that it is safer, and that makes me feel good.”