The Community Schools of Frankfort Board of Education heard a final report from Tecton Construction Management President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Witteveen Tuesday night of the high school renovation project at Frankfort High School.
“We have a great product,” said Community Schools of Frankfort Superintendent Don DeWeese. “The high school looks wonderful and I think we’ve met our goals. We’re going to get that 35 to 50 years of life out of this building.”
Witteveen came up with some interesting facts about the $30 million renovation project. He said there were 176 change orders in the project, but there was nearly $7 million in savings. There were 47 bid packages, a cost of $500,000 to remove asbestos from the building along with 16.5 feet in the amount of paper printed for the project. Probably one of the biggest stats involved was the removal of 1,770,000 pounds of debris removed such as old walls, windows, roofs, and so on, in 179 roll-offs.
The board also heard a report on the first year of the 1 to 1 initiative at Frankfort High School. The amazing item here was the fact that only one of the 950 computers issued to students was destroyed.
‘I was astounded when they collected the computers at the end of the year that only one had been damaged,” said DeWeese. “That happened when a bottle of Gatorade was spilled and ruined the computer.”
DeWeese added he was proud of the students for being so responsible and respectful of the computers.
DeWeese was asked his thoughts on the initiative proposed by Governor Eric Holcomb to give free metal detectors to each school.
“I applaud Governor Holcomb for offering free wands — hand-held devices,” said DeWeese. “He’s going to offer them free for each school (one for each 250 students). We’re going to do some more investigating and see what we need to do. I wouldn’t mind having some of those in our district.”
DeWeese said the detectors available to each school is based off the number of student in the entire district which means CSF would be receiving nine total detectors.
DeWeese added that the school safety plan does not metal detectors at this time.
“We do not have any firm plans to include metal detectors in our security plans,” said DeWeese. “We haven’t found a model that works like we want and that is a good balance for us and our students.”
The board also accepted the resignation of FHS Assistant Principal Matt Hines, who took a similar job at Avon High School.
“He found an assistant principal’s position a little closer to home where he doesn’t have to drive quite as much,” said DeWeese. “We wish Matt the best of luck and he will always be a Hot Dog at heart.”