Updates on Triad School projects, bond issue work
By Charles Bolinger
Editor
During a Nov. 10 special meeting, Triad School officials discussed the upcoming bond issue work.
Brian Mattingly, the director of facilities said the roof at Marine Elementary School will go out for bid this month for a new roof. Work on the roof should start next summer.
Officials are also reviewing expanding the district’s school bus lot, across Creekside from Henning Elementary School.
When the new Triad Middle School construction ends, in August or September of 2027, Superintendent Jason Henderson all of the buses parking on the middle school’s lot currently will have to be moved to an expanded parking lot at Creekside, however, there’s no cost estimate for this work yet.
“We’re actually shooting for that project [the Henning lot] to be done next summer,” he said. “It’ll just make it cleaner and make it better.”
The lot expansion should go out for bid in mid-January, Mattingly said
Board president Jeff Hewitt asked if the roof work at Marine will impact either phase of bond issue construction at the school but Mattingly said the roof work was not going to be an issue with either phase of the reconstruction.
Turning to bond funds, Henderson said so far, the cost estimates for the new middle school have been running 10-12% below expected costs.
Associate Superintendent Dr. Rodney Winslow talked about current construction work visible from the air, using a drone. Images show the school’s footprint taking shape, including the parking lot, entrance drive and the sixth-grade section. He said the gymnasiums will occupy the rear of the site. That led at least one board member to ask about outdoor recreation options. Since there is a farm field behind the school, there’s no room for any kind of fields. In the northwest corner, there is a small space but it is not enough for baseball or football. Teams have been traveling to Triad High for practices. Henderson said the existing softball field remains at the middle school.
Dr. Henderson mentioned the possibility of redoing the grassy area within the track for football and any future options beyond that would have to wait until the school is complete.
There are also two detention basins for stormwater/snowmelt runoff, one near the existing school track and the other next to Triad Road.
Construction vehicles enter the site from Triad Road, not US 40. There are location markings showing the footprint for the seventh- and eighth-grade foundations. Digging happened in late October that led to rebar installation followed by the first concrete pour on Nov. 6 that became the footings for the west side of the seventh and eighth grade wings. All rebar for this project is being formed by NuWay in Troy, Winslow noted.
For now, $3 million has been added to spruce up the middle school’s track vicinity. FGM Architects is working on some possible options for the school’s outside spaces for future consideration.
Out on US 40, Henderson said officials want to extend the left-turn lane or add another one for ingress to the school after IDOT widens the road to accommodate turns from either direction. The only thing that will not be included is a dedicated left-turn lane to Triad Road, Henderson said. The current Triad Middle School dates back to 1959 and served as the district’s high school for the next 40 years.
At Triad High, which turned 25 years old this year, there will be a multi-use addition, which will include an auditorium as well as space for career/technical classes and renovations to the art and band areas and more.
Winslow reminded the board about the auditorium renderings he shared back in October. While those renderings were mostly complete, the carpet, seating surfaces and wall décor didn’t reflect the school’s color palette, opting for a blue hue versus Triad Red, which school staff mildly objected to.
At this meeting Winslow showed revised initial renderings using the red instead of the blue. The carpeting in the revised rendering is a metallic red while the seating surfaces are red shot through with gold, like embroidered upholstery. The seatbacks are dark gray. Finally, the blue circles went red with a metallic tinge. Winslow revealed that these circles represent whole music notes and the lines they rest on are musical staff. Most everything else is the same. More complete renderings that will be publicly shown will come later, Winslow said.
Winslow reminded the board that the auditorium will be used for more than music concerts and theatre performances – school assemblies, guest speakers and events where the lights will be on.
These changes did not change the project cost, Winslow said, and he noted that all changes to renderings had to be sent to Holland Construction by Nov. 7, for bids to go out the week of Nov. 10. Henderson said in December, all of the bids for the Triad High School addition will come back and those will be approved in early January.
“Things are starting to flow,” he said. “After the bids come in, there are interviews, vetting and the whole process to know who to bring back. Because of Christmas, we’re meeting on Dec. 15, so there’s no way to have enough time [this year].”
After a few months of negotiation with the contractors and vendors involved, Marine Elementary’s costs for its second phase of work have tumbled $200,000 from previous estimates, bringing it down to $3.5 million from $3.7 million. Earlier this year, officials said Marine’s second phase could cost $4.1 to $4.5 million to complete, much higher than originally estimated.
“We went back to the contractors and asked them to produce their bids,” Henderson said. “We asked them to lay out their costs and we believe those were accurate.
“I know that it’s still obviously not what we hoped it would be,” Henderson said, regarding the price. He recommended that based on where the district is with the project, to move forward with Marine’s work.
Board President Jeff Hewett, who had been opposed to the school’s second phase of work due to the amount of the bids after they came back higher than expected, said he is now satisfied with the $200,000 decrease.
Phase 1 work will involve the school’s 11 classrooms and will start as soon as the current school year ends. Phase 2 will tackle the main office, nurse’s office, library, cafeteria, multi-purpose room etc. Phase 2 work at Marine may start as soon as Thanksgiving 2026 but it will probably start after the 2026-2027 school year ends, Mattingly said.
Finally, the district agreed to re-vamp the school’s front parking lot in house, probably after the majority of the other work is completed.
