Posted by: Dr. Gretta Kumpf, Superintendent

As the District undertakes updating its Facilities Master Plan, here is the timeline we are developing:

SPRING 2018  Continued Engagement on LT Ball & Tipp Middle School Renovations & Reinvestments. The next community engagement session on the topic will be April 24, 2018.  The focus of that session will be discussions about the PK-3 new construction initiative.

SUMMER 2018   We are currently evaluating community interest to begin planning the PK-3 new construction efforts this Summer.  It is critical that the voice of the community is heard and we want to do so early in the process, but with the busy summer schedules, we realize that this may need to be on hold until school is back in session.  Initial renovations in TMS & LT Ball will occur during these important months as well, with the expectation that staff and students will begin to see the the value of the investments in these buildings as soon as August 2018.

FALL 2018   The school district will be seeking RENEWAL of the current PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT levy that the community first put in place 50 years ago and that is used for projects like the reinvestments in LT  Ball & TMS. We will also be actively engaged in the development of the PK-3 new construction plan with all of our different stakeholder groups, including parents, staff, and community members.

SPRING 2019  The school district will finalize a PK-5 renovation/addition plan at LT Ball and will ask the BOE to place a Bond Issue on the ballot in May 2019. The school district will hold a series of community engagements sessions throughout the spring to provide information on the project. The dates of the community sessions are: January 15, February 19, March 12, and April 9.  All sessions will begin at 6:30 and will be held at LT Ball Intermediate School.

Potential planned renovations at LT Ball and TMS will cost approximately $7,000,000 - to build this same amount of space new for these 5 grade levels will cost approximately $41,000,000.

UPDATE APRIL 2018
The BOE moved forward with a $4.8 million renovation plan at TMS and LTB. The renovations at LT Ball were targeted at aging systems and equipment. This included the replacement of the original 1974 chiller, replacement of the original fire alarm system, replacement of the original doors, replacement of the boilers and domestic hot water supply, replacement of the gymnasium lights with a more efficient LED system, additional security cameras, replacement of network switchgear, 23,300 sq ft of roof replacement, and upgraded wi-fi connectivity.

The renovations at TMS included replacement of the original 1964 electrical switchgear, new wires and conduit from the transformer to the switchgear, installation of a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat VRF HVAC to heat and cool the entire school, installation of a roof top unit to heat and cool the gymnasium, replacement of all lighting with a high efficient LED system, replacement of all original windows, curtain walls, and exterior doors, 28,000 sq ft of roof replacement, a new master time clock system, a new PA system, and replacement of interior classroom doors in the original part of the school.

We have also installed 3M Blast film on all exterior doors at all of our facilities.

All of this work is being paid for out of our current PI levy. We have added decades of additional life to TMS without having to increase taxes, thus addressing our grades 6-8 facility needs.

Posted by Gary Pfister, Director of Services

We have worked to maintain our facilities to get the most life out of facilities. The district has been fiscally prudent in maintaining our boilers, chillers, roofs, etc. over the years and getting as much life as possible out of them. We have maintained these systems with yearly inspections and have made repairs as necessary to keep them operating. But as with any facility, the systems eventually get to a point where they need to be replaced.

Posted by: Gary Pfister, Director of Services

The OFCC determines the percentage of matching dollars based on a community’s wealth. They do not look at a school districts budget, payroll, etc. when determining this matching figure, they only look at the community as a whole. This percentage is calculated in September of each year, and then communicated out to us by the OFCC. We have seen our State matching percentage in the range of 25-31% over the course of the previous 7-10 years. This percentage does not get ‘locked-in’ until the OFCC says that it is our district’s turn to receive funding.

At this time, the OFCC cannot give us a timeline of when the district will be eligible to participate in the Classroom Facilities Assistance Program (CFAP). Other districts that can move in front of us include districts who previously attempted to pass a bond issue but failed at that time - but have now passed their bond issue; districts that completed part of their Master plan construction projects (called segmenting) and now want to move forward with the remainder of their plan - they move in front of us. In addition, the State Legislature budgets a limited amount of dollars each biennium for the OFCC, and depending on the scope/cost of the projects in front of us, the OFCC will only agree to co-fund a limited amount of projects each year so they don’t go over their budget.

UPDATE FALL 2018
However, since the OFCC believes we are more than two years away from receiving assistance through the Classroom Facilities Assistance Program (CFAP), we are now eligible to participate in the Expedited Local Partnership Program (ELPP) through the OFCC. We have not been eligible for this program in the past, as the OFCC continued to believe we would be eligible for CFAP funding with a two year window. In addition, when the OFCC calculated the percentage of matching dollars this past September, our matching dollar percentage has increased to 35%. This eligibility means that we are able to proceed with our construction project now, and the OFCC will then reimburse/credit us for the matching share when our district’s turn comes up for the CFAP program. We are anticipating this to happen within the next 3-7 years.

When using OFCC money in a co-funded project, you must build your facility to the Ohio School Design Manual standards. These standards include square footage limitations, room size, student-to-teacher ratio, as well as designing/constructing the building to LEED silver standards. These requirements can increase the cost of a project, and in communicating with various architects and other school districts that have used OFCC funding, the increase in cost is typically in the 10-15% range.

In addition, a school district also has to pass a .5 mill levy when they use OFCC co-funding, and this levy money can only be used for maintenance of the new facility. The passage of this additional levy is a detriment to schools and communities that already have a Permanent Improvement levy in place. However, when doing your project through the ELPP program, you do not have to pass a .5 mill levy when you pass your bond issue for construction. The ELPP program requires you to have a .5 mill of funding available when you are eligible to receive your CFAP money - this funding can be in the form of a new .5 mill levy, or the BOE could choose to fund this amount from our current PI levy or through current operating funds.

Posted by: Gary Pfister, Director of Services

At that time, the Board was moving forward with a Master plan that consisted of building a new PK-8 school that was going to be co-funded by the Ohio Facilities Construction Committee (OFCC) at a 25% state share of the project.

In May 2015, the Board decided to not move forward with this project, as the OFCC made the decision that they would not co-fund the 7th grade, 8th grade, and 34 of our 6th graders, due to the size of our current High School. The OFCC formula says that we should be able to fit these additional grade level of students in the current HS, thus the OFCC would not co-fund the part of any project that includes those grade levels.

The OFCC does not take into consideration that our community paid for our current HS without any co-funding from the OFCC - the formula only looks at square footage of the districts schools, and the number of students that can fit into this square footage, based on their formula. (The OFCC formula alots 100 sq ft per PK-5 student, 135 sq ft per 6-8 student, and 166 sq ft per 9-12 student.)

The decision by the OFCC to not co-fund those grade levels is what has led the Board to investigate what can be done to preserve LT Ball and Tippecanoe Middle School. The Board believes these 2 schools are well constructed and will continue to serve our community well with upgrades and renovations to targeted systems within both schools.

UPDATE APRIL 2018
The BOE moved forward with a $4.8 million renovation plan at TMS and LTB. The renovations at LT Ball were targeted at aging systems and equipment. This included the replacement of the original 1974 chiller, replacement of the original fire alarm, replacement of the original doors, replacement of the boilers and domestic hot water supply, replacement of the gymnasium lights with a more efficient LED system, additional security cameras, replacement of network switchgear, 23,300 sq ft of roof replacement, and upgraded wi-fi connectivity.

The renovations at TMS included replacement of the original 1964 electrical switchgear, new wires and conduit from the transformer to the switchgear, installation of a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat VRF HVAC to heat and cool the entire school, installation of a roof top unit to heat and cool the gymnasium, replacement of all lighting with a high efficient LED system, replacement of all original windows, curtain walls, and exterior doors, 28,000 sq ft of roof replacement, additional security cameras, replacement of network switchgear, upgraded wi-fi connectivity, a new master time clock system, a new PA system, and replacement of interior classroom doors in the original part of the school.

All of this work is being paid for out of our current PI levy. We have added decades of additional life to TMS without having to increase taxes, thus addressing our grades 6-8 facility needs.

Posted by: Dr. Gretta Kumpf, Superintendent

The Board is working with FutureThink to update our 10 year enrollment projections, along with communicating with the City to understand potential future housing developments. This updated enrollment projection was completed in November 2018. This projection shows our schools enrollment  increasing by about 100 students over the next 10 school years. This increased enrollment has been taken into consideration in the planning of the renovation/addition to LT Ball Intermediate School.

Posted by: Gary Pfister, Director of Services

LT Ball and TMS have significant life left in them if we make the proposed renovations (boilers, chillers, roof, windows, entry doors, AC at TMS, lighting). These two schools combined have over 165,000 square feet of space - space that would would cost at a minimum $41,000,000 to build new (this amount does not include costs of abatement and demo of the existing schools, nor does it include swing space costs, which would be necessary if the schools were rebuilt in their current locations. The Board is able to do the proposed renovations for approximately $7,000,000).

If the board would decide to keep Broadway and NC (112,000 square feet of space), they have other issues that would need to be addressed before we could undertake similar renovations to what the Board is planning to do at LT and TMS. These issues include structural issues at BW (there are tie rods holding the original section of BW together). The tunnels under BW (where our utilities are located) have issues as all of the piping and water/sewage lines are the original to the construction. The size of this area makes it difficult to get into to do repairs, and these pipes are all covered in asbestos insulation. Whenever there is a leak down in the tunnels, proper care is taken to properly abate the asbestos before any repairs can be made, which adds additional costs on to the repairs.

Nevin Coppock has issues of an off-site boiler system (with no area large enough in the building to put new boilers), and the classroom ceilings have asbestos in them. Whenever there is a roof leak, we have to properly abate the area of the leak before we can fix the leak. This entails moving the students out of the classroom until the repair can be made, along with all of the proper testing to ensure that air quality levels are at safe levels once the repairs are made. Nevin also has a shared gymnasium/cafeteria area. This means that PE classes can only be scheduled around lunch time, and there is set-up and clean-up time involved before and after lunch that cuts into PE class scheduling time. In addition, this is not a full size gymnasium - which means the facility cannot be used for basketball games that need a regulation size court.

UPDATE JANUARY 2019
After significant discussion with the administration and the BOE, the decision has been made to do a combined renovation/addition to LT Ball Intermediate School. With the renovation of infrastructure systems this past summer at LT Ball, we believe this is the most fiscally responsible plan to address classroom space needs in our aging elementary schools. This project will build new classroom space for all of our K-5 students, add a new gymnasium, and add a new stage, and will renovate current LT Ball as space for special area classes (music, art, computer, PE), PK classrooms, a new kitchen large enough to serve this population, and a new office space located close to the new classroom space.

Posted by: Gary Pfister, Director of Services

STADIUM

Phase 1 has been completed -  this included site work for field and turf. Funding for Phase 1 is from the Premier Hospital Funds and Tipp Pride Association. Phase 2 may start in the Spring of 2019. Phase 2 will consist of the main concession and restroom facility. This phase will be paid for with funds from the City and Tipp Pride Association. Future phases will not be undertaken until money is available to proceed.

GYMNASIUMS

Our current gymnasium space meets our curricular and educational needs. In the potential reno/addition project at LT Ball, we will be adding a gymnasium, so this facility will have 2 gyms. This additional gym will allow us to meet all of our curricular needs, even after Broadway and NC go away. The district will need to continue to engage with the community in determining the best way to address our ever increasing community gym space needs.