GISD improves facilities over summer; waiting on materials for Chalmers, Intermediate

Jul. 1—Gainesville Independent School District is using this summer to fix up buildings. Aside from a few delays, work is moving apace across the district.

The district will have to wait until next summer to construct secure vestibules in Chalmers Elementary and the Intermediate campus to make the schools safer for the students. The plan is to build these vestibules into the front entrances with a reception area and ballistic glass across the front, as well as a station for the school resource officer to have visibility of the front parking lots and entryways. This will make it where people have to be screened prior to entry into the facility and will not have access to the campus when it is not necessary, such as when picking up or dropping off a child or their lunch.

These projects were originally intended for this summer, but supplies will not arrive in time.

"When we do that, we will physically open up the front of the buildings, and we couldn't get storefront for four months, which is the aluminum, windows and all that. They said we might make it in time, but I don't want to roll the dice, and then the kids come back and I've got plywood up. So we decided to kick that back," explained Warren. "That's a very high priority on our list, don't get me wrong. We would have tackled that had we been confident that we could complete it in time, but that level of confidence just wasn't there, because of the lead times on supplies and materials. We are under contract with the general contractor for both of those campuses."

Agriculture

The Gainesville High School Agriculture building is being expanded to include a new classroom, office and climate-controlled room for small animals and fowl.

"The new pen area will add an additional 70 pens," said Warren. For context, the building that is already built and is currently being used has about 40 pens. "We'll construct the new space first and set all the pens in that particular area ... This is for our 10-year plan. If we need to expand and the program continues to grow at the pace it is currently, we can add more space. Also, there is going to be food storage, storage lockers, and a wash bay."

The plan is move the animals in March 2023 and start holding classes in the new space by the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

Warehouse/Distribution Center

Progress has been made on the Warehouse Distribution Center under construction near the bus barn.

"The slab is poured," said Joe Warren, the director of maintenance and operations. "All of the primary utilities are in: water and electricity. The steel has been delivered. We're just waiting on the wall panels to begin the erection of the skeleton itself, and we're looking at probably a mid-September completion of that particular facility."

This building is meant to add much-needed storage space for the district.

"The very west end is going to be the receiving area, which will have the walk-in deep freeze for our commodity storage for our child nutrition program, so we can store extra food in there," explained Warren. "That will alleviate the pressure that we have on the current transportation building because it is full of copy paper, computers and other stuff. We can only use two bus bays right now."

The district's maintenance staff will work out of the new building.

"This will also be the maintenance facility because they do not have a shop right now ... to work on their vehicles and their mowers, whatever it may be," said Warren.

New gym floors

Chalmers and the Intermediate School are getting new gym floors this summer.

"There's no safety factor whatsoever, so we're removing the VCT and replacing it with a shock pad system, called polyurethane athletic surface. It's not a wooden gym floor as far as the traditional method, but it's a shock pad, and it is a more forgiving surface than what's currently there," explained Warren. "We can add stuff to these, also, like markings and basketball courts. We can customize it, so we've got some neat things that we're working with some of the P.E teachers on. We set up the little dots for the bowling pins and Foursquare all that other stuff. The campuses are really excited about that."

Chalmers roof

The previous 23-year old bitumen flat roof was replaced with a Thermalplastic Poloylefin (TPO) membrane system with a 20-year warranty.

"At Chalmers, the bitumen flat roof replacement is complete," said Warren. "That is over all of the common areas and administration areas, and we finished that last week."There are also plans to replace the original 68 tons of rooftop units (RTU) with gas/electric carrier units with hail guards. These units will service administration offices, the cafeteria, the gymnasium, the library and other common areas in Chalmers. However, they have not been installed yet due to supply chain complications..

"All of the rooftop units that are on those same two roofs are backordered," said Warren. "We have had an extremely difficult time with HVAC equipment right now. Our lead times are anywhere from 20 to 30 weeks out. That's wherever you go, and it's not just that: it's everything."

Elsewhere

—Damaged VCT flooring tiles at the intermediate school have also already been replaced, and new cafeteria tables are coming.

—The Headstart campus is waiting on new playground equipment right now, and is working on replacing the VCT flooring with Luxury Vinyl Tile flooring.

—HVAC units on the roof of the Junior High auditorium have been replaced, and the interior corridors in the main building are in the process of being repainted from pastels to gray.

—Custodial equipment is being replaced district-wide.

—Playground mulching for safety and replacing various cafeteria equipment is in progress, as well as replacing drinking fountains with water bottle filler combinations. Also, parking lot repairs are going to take place, particularly at the rear of the Intermediate building. These will be completed by the time school is back in session in the fall.