Milford starts construction on elementary school addition

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Old windows will be the first to go as construction begins on Milford Elementary School’s new building addition.

Superintendent Kevin Wingard and the Board of Education discussed the project at a Jan. 14 meeting after approving a contract with Tru-Built Construction of Lincoln at its December meeting.

On Jan. 18, Wingard said the project started with the window alcoves being filled in with brick inside the classrooms along the building’s north wall.

As soon as the weather cooperates, the outside of the window alcoves will be removed.

After that, the concrete area of the playground will be ripped up.

School administrators are looking ahead at scheduling and how the construction will affect the school day.

“The timeline is not convenient for us,” Wingard said.

A large portion of the project will be completed over the summer months, so students will not be affected, but some of the work will have to be done while school is in session.

Construction that will affect existing classrooms should be completed by August, Wingard said, but the full project won’t be done until October.

“That will cause us some scheduling issues,” he said.

A few teachers will use the library and cafeteria as classrooms when those areas are not otherwise in use.

Wingard used sixth grade as an example, which needs to be split into three sections. Currently, only two sixth grade classrooms are available.

“Part of the day, they’ll be in two rooms with three teachers,” he said.

Once the project is complete this fall, Wingard said students may take a day or two off from classes or teachers will use a weekend to move into the new addition and swap classrooms.

“It’s really exciting. We’ve got a great staff, and we have great kids, so that makes the whole process easier,” Wingard said.

In other business, the board:

• approved the master calendar for the 2019-20 school year. School will begin for students on Aug. 15 and teachers will return on Aug. 12.

Graduation will be May 16, a week later than usual, because of how the calendar dates fall in 2020.

• elected officers as follows: President Dave Welsch, Vice President Tony Roth, Secretary Craig Shaw and Treasurer Jim Stahly.

• appointed Wingard as the district representative for state and federal programs and Business Manager Tammy Salyer as the district treasurer to handle day-to-day transactions.

• moved the superintendent’s evaluation agenda item to the February meeting because of a technical glitch with the digital documents.

• approved out-of-state travel for the cross country team to attend a summer camp in Norwalk, Iowa, June 26-28.

• denied a request from Shane Baack and Seward Kiwanis to use Milford gyms for a Sunday morning basketball tournament because of scheduling conflicts at other facilities. The board updated its policy several years ago to eliminate Sunday morning rentals. Facilities may be rented beginning at noon.

The board’s next meeting is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, at the elementary school. Meetings are open to the public.

emily@sewardindependent.com