patching...
Welcome back, Patch Blogger!

From Parking Lots to Bathrooms, Birmingham Schools Spends Summer on Repairs

"Every dollar we spend now, in 10-15 years, we're saving $10," said the school district's manager of operations during a discussion of the district's summer construction projects.

 

Birmingham students returned to some renovated, re-done and refreshed school buildings this fall, the result of a summer-long construction blitz throughout the district.

"Every dollar we spend now, in 10-15 years, we're saving $10," said Steve King, manager of operations at Birmingham Public Schools at the Sept. 11 school board meeting. 

In total, the district has spent a little less than $2 million on the projects, all of which came out of the district's building and site fund. The only sources of revenue for that fund comes from transfers from the district's general fund, as well as profits earned from the sale of major assets, such as the former alternative school building on Lincoln.

However, without a permanent source of revenue for the building and site fund — and after the school board decided to eliminate transfers to the building and site fund for 2012-13 — Superintendent Daniel Nerad said Birmingham needs to have a discussion about how building projects will be funded in the future.

"We need to go beyond the next year, especially given the fact that there's not a sustainable revenue source, and figure out what that plan will be," Nerad told the school board last week. "We need to preserve the assets of this school system for students in the future."

This summer's projects touched nearly every building in the district, ranging from renovated kindergarten classrooms to high school track repairs:

Beverly Elementary

  • Kindergarten room renovations

Harlan Elementary

  • Kindergarten room renovations

Pembroke Elementary

  • Kindergarten room renovations
  • Building envelope repairs

Bingham Farms Elementary

  • Parking lot replacement

Pierce Elementary

  • Parking lot replacement and reconfiguration
  • Main office reconfiguration
  • Skylight replacements

West Maple Elementary

  • Student bathroom renovations
  • Parking lot reconfigurations
  • Gym floor replacement

Quarton Elementary

  • Playfield improvements
  • Building envelope repairs

Birmingham Covington School

  • Student bathroom renovations
  • Staff development room renovations

Derby Middle School

  • Student bathroom renovations
  • New rubber treads in stairwells
  • Parking lot reconfiguration
  • Building envelope repairs

Berkshire Middle School

  • Student bathroom renovations
  • New exterior paint

Seaholm High School

  • Classroom carpet and paint replacement
  • Courtyard terrace rebuild (still in process)

Groves High School

  • Classroom carpet and paint replacement
  • Track repairs
  • Press box flooring replacement
  • Building envelope repairs
  • Auditorium door replacement

Midvale Early Childhood Center

  • New exterior paint
Related Topics: Birmingham Public Schools

Leave a comment

 
 
 

In This article

See more

See More on Patch

 

Most Popular articles