The Salem Community High School Board voted Monday night to complete the renovation of two of the science labs on the third floor this summer.
The board amended the contract with Ameresco to oversee the $1,284,000 project.
Superintendent Dr. Brad Detering says both rooms will be overhauled.
“It’ll be basically our chemistry lab and our main biology lab,” Detering said. “Those two labs butt up to one another. They have some shared walls. We’ll remove all the asbestos, perform all the asbestos abatement, come in with new desks, come in with new flooring, and just kind of renovate those labs because they’ve not been touched in a number of years.”
Detering says it may be a few years before the board considers renovation of the other two main science labs.

Salem Community High School biology lab. Photo by Cole Wimberly.
The lab renovation joins other work already approved for this summer that includes work on the brick masonry as well as replacement of all the windows in the business wing and the glass block windows on the south end of the second and third floors of the main classroom building.
Together the projects will cost $3-million and will be paid from surplus funds in the district’s budget. Detering says no bond issue or tax increase will be necessary like the projects completed the last few years.
The board extended the school year by two days as a result of two snow days being used during the winter storms. The extra days will be May 23rd and 27th. But they will be final exam days only, with the original final exam days now being regular attendance days.
Salem Community High School’s share of the $7-million shortfall for health care costs in the Egyptian Trust will be $113,500. Each of the 80 school districts in the trust are paying an assessment to cover the higher than anticipated medical and drug expenses.
The board employed Cathy Kohnen as a chemistry teacher and Elizabeth Smith as a special education teacher.