MIDDLETOWN– The Middletown Unified School District met in public session at 6 p.m. on July 31. Much of the business before the board was approval of budgetary measures, including fund transfers of any remainders that may be found from the 2023-24 budget to the 2024-25 budget as the new school year ramps up.
Ray Green reported that although materials for the Tolman Gym renovation project have been on site all summer, construction was not able to start. There were four legacy projects at the district that needed to be stamped before the Division of State Architects (DSA) would give the go-ahead on the Tolman project. The district received certification of three of the four projects in June, but have been waiting all summer for the fourth project to be stamped. They finally received the approval on July 25 and immediately filed the Tolman plans for approval. The district finally cleared all the hurdles with DSA in anticipation of the new school year.
Green had a meeting with all the stakeholders to discuss options on how to proceed with the least impact on Physical Education delivery. He stated that the contractor believes that they can turn over the locker rooms to the school by Aug. 16 with roofing, HVAC, framing and all hazardous work completed, if all goes according to plan. If unforeseen events occur, turn over might be pushed to Sept. 2. Physical Education classes will be using inside instruction for the first eight calendar days of the school year.
Gym use will also be impacted. High school volleyball practice has been moved to the middle school gym until the completion of construction. The contractor stated that they could not possibly turn over access to the gym until Sept. 16, but the first volleyball home game is scheduled for Sept. 12. Green is contacting other schools to see about flipping schedules moving early season home games to the competitor’s gym. All the stakeholders agreed to these plans so the district will go ahead with the Tolman construction project, hoping for 100 percent completion by Sept. 30.
Ray Green also reported to the board on other projects slated for summer completion. The painting at Coyote Valley Elementary will be principally completed for the beginning of classes next week. There will be some remaining trim work towards the back of the building, and some punch list items will follow job completion. However, the fencing project at Minnie Cannon Elementary has been delayed. They received three bids. Two were comparable and one was $30,000 over the other two. The more expensive contractor was the only one available over the summer, so fencing will be delayed until a more affordable contractor is available.
Green stated that the sixth-grade portable classroom project is complete. The portables received dry rot repair, new floor covering, new ceilings, new lighting, exterior painting, new HVAC and new central HVAC centralized controls for all four classrooms. They will now be going forward with replacing the doors and hardware as well. The district was able to access $300,000 in state funding for the project through the strategic recommendations of their King Consulting contract, which was renewed in the session as well. A ribbon cutting was planned for the rooms before the sixth grade orientation.
Implementation of a new Pelican system of centralized HVAC control for the district, will reduce HVAC resource waste. Green noted that campus tours would frequently find air conditioning or heat being used in empty classrooms. The Pelican system has been chosen by many districts for simplicity of use and versatility. He hopes to see master schedules uploaded to the Pelican system, bringing rooms to temperature before the students arrive and turning the systems off when they are not in use. The system allows the district to give teachers control of classroom temperatures. Many districts allow teachers to manipulate their temperatures within a recommended window of 68-72 degrees.
Superintendent Jeff Crane announced his excitement at the school opening this week. “It’s a fresh start for everyone,” he said. It will also inaugurate his first opening day at Middletown schools as district Superintendent.
