Odin School Superintendent Kimberly Briggs is convinced after talking to numerous architects and engineers the three story portion of Odin High School can be renovated and have another 25 years of life.
The school board this week hired contract performance engineer GRP Wegman of Bethalto to formalize plans for the renovation and other improvements to the school that can be completed within the $2.5-million the school will have available through a recently issued bond issue that will be paid back by funds from the one-cent sales tax being collected for schools and ESSER federal COVID relief money.
Briggs says the scope of the project now has to be further defined.
“Our main goal is to make it safe and usable so we have to start with a lot of things we won’t see like the HVAC, the roof fixed out there and so I think keeping the structure that we have and square footage is only going to be to our advantage. But then we are going to sit down as a team, board and teachers as priorities. What are our needs, what changes have happened, what do our kids need? It’s for them.”
And Briggs says improvements should go beyond the three-story high school, including additional air conditioning where it is not presently.
“We are going to go ahead and think about the gym and that end even though that is in the newer part. Look at our boiler system and see if that is the most efficient way to use our money. Increasing our technology needs. We will be able to open things up and look at that.”
As a contract performance engineer GRP Wegman will guarantee the prices for the project once they are approved.
Briggs fired the district’s old architect that had pushed the district towards building new classrooms and facilities, indicating the old high school section had very limited life remaining due to structural concerns.
Odin School District residents overwhelmingly defeated a tax increase to pay for the new construction. Briggs says no additional bond issue will be needed to complete the current renovation work.
