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- Category: News
PHS rehab
starts with
pursuit of
funding
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- School officials hope to see a shovel in the ground for the renovation of Putnam High School by the end of the school year in 2014.
Voters recently approved the pursuit of funding for the "renovate as new" project on the more-than-50-year-old high school building. The total cost of the project would be $36.5 million; however after state reimbursements, the cost of the project would be around $16.5 million, according to school superintendent William Hull. That $16.5 million figure includes lots of contingency.
The project includes a full-sized gym, science lab upgrades, the whole building becoming ADA compliant, energy-efficiency projects that will save money, a brand new library media center, bringing the Putnam Alternative Learning School back into the high school, moving the Board of Education/school offices into the building, modernizing classrooms and adding a Medical Pathways course of study and more. The modernized classrooms will afford the high school the opportunity to "cluster classes" more to make for an efficient teaching environment. The Medical Pathways will be basically a "school within a school," he said. It will offer higher level math and science courses and will also offer internships and job shadowing. Hull said the program has connections with Day Kimball Hospital and other providers. It's an area looking to expand and grow, he added.
After years of study, the building committee determined that renovating the current high school as new made the most sense.
Hull said school officials know the state reimbursement rate for the project will be 73 percent. "We're not 100 percent sure of the rate next year," he said, so officials will be filing the reimbursement application before June 30, the end of the state fiscal year.
He hopes to file with the state at the beginning of June and thinks the town may hear back by the end of July. He added the town is also working with state legislators, including State Senator Donald E. Williams Jr., Senate president; and Daniel S. Rovero, state representative for the 51st district. "We're pursuing additional funding for the Medical Pathways program," he said. Other towns have added that program at their schools and have had success getting some funding for it.
Hull said the building committee has done yeoman's work and the committee and the Board of Education have exhibited a constant collaborative effort.
Following the state thumbs up, officials would like to hire an architect by fall. Plans would be created after that, following by a shovel in the ground at the end of school, 2014. Construction would take 18 to 24 months, he said and a process called "phasing" would be used. That involves closing wings of the school for demolition and renovation, with safety walls between students and staff and the construction work. People would move around the building and it's possible portable classrooms would be brought in. The building will be kept open in a safe manner, he said.
Hull said "We are grateful to Putnam residents for seeing the future and giving us a vote of confidence."