Instructional Materials, the Receptionist, the Instructional Materials Center, and the Coffee Room. Besides being substandard, some of these facilities are poorly located in relation to others for proper function. Remodeling would: 1. Provide a through corridor north and south for proper access to Receptionist and offices from existing parking lots. 2. Consolidate graphics and related equipment in an area not disturbing to conference and office facilities. 3. Relocate the office supply room to an area accessible from graphics and other publications equipment. 4. Provide a centralized and separate Instructional Materials Center for film storage and processing. 5. Provide a reasonable coffee-kitchen facility for staff and patrons. 6. Relocate the Receptionist to an area where she would properly accommodate visitors to the building. 7. Provide a rest cot facility in connection with the Womens' Restroom (which, I believe, is a requirement of law we have not been meeting). 8. Relocate library facilities presently in a curriculum office to a conference room where it will be available to others. 9. Remodel the section of the building presently occupied by the Receptionist into office and needed storage room as deemed most advisable. Parking Facilities The impact of increasing staff size of the Special Education Department and the increasing number of departmental meetings being held at the Administration Building points to the future need for additional parking area. It is probable that this development would be made along Snow Avenue, south of the present Special Education office building. Air Conditioning Air condition old section. The existing air conditioning of this building is composed of a refrigeration unit serving the new addition and an evaporative cooler serving the old unremodeled unit. The two systems are not compatible. The introduction of high humidity air by the evaporative unit into the building causes excessive frost build-up on the refrigeration unit which results in subperformance of the latter unit. The solution to this problem would be conversion of the evaporative unit to refrigeration-quite identical to the existing unit serving the new addition. The old section of this building is 6,891 square feet. Existing ductwork could be used in the change-over. This change-over should be accomplished at the same time the old section is remodeled. It is important to note that the Central Administration Building of this district is basically fully staffed during the summer months and that adequate air conditioning is imperative. Columbia High School Art Room The existing Art room facilities at Columbia High School have been declared inadequate in size by the faculty and administration of this school. A proposal to include the patio to the immediate east as a part of this department has been suggested. Team Dressing Room This installation is necessary to properly accommodate the male student body of this school. At present all physical education classes and all athletic teams must use the existing physical education showers and storage. Visiting teams must use the girls' facility in the other gym. Community group usage of the gym facilities for such occasions as pro-basketball, the Fred Waring troupe, the Louis Armstrong group, Kiwanis banquet, Marine Band performance, and many other, adds to the problems of needed space at this structure. A capacity condition exists at the physical education side with physical education classes only. A team dressing room is perhaps our most pressing, essential need at the senior high school. Completion of this facility would involve installation of interior and dividing walls, ceramic flooring in shower area, shower units, toilets, urinals, washbasins, lighting system, ceiling, etc. The existing room is a shell except for the lockers which are reclaimed units from the old building. In 1963, the alternates to accomplish the above work added to an amount in excess of $15,000. Laundry We are one of the few districts of our size without laundry facilities to serve our secondary school for physical education and athletics. The room "shell" is there for the development of a laundry. Needed will be: 1. Gas fuel source to this location. 2. Construction of venting ductwork and related mechanical equipment. 4. Purchase of laundry handling equipment such as hampers, storage shelves, laundry hand trucks, etc. 5. Purchase of towels to total an inventory of approximately 3,500. (Three towels per student.) 6. Purchase of a laundry service vehicle for distribution. Splash Wall A ceramic splash wall alternate in the boys' gym physical education room was dropped for lack of funds. As a result, shower spray is a constant problem for the clothing lockers located near the showers which, in turn, results in an unhygienic condition for the students' clothing plus a corrosive action on the physical equipment in this area. Air Conditioning All new structures at our senior high school are without air conditioning except for one temporary, totally inadequate evaporative unit placed in the window of the administration section workroom. Fall and spring school days with classroom temperatures exceeding ninety degrees, extensive scheduling of summer classes, and the trend toward extending the school year-all point to a definite need to air condition school structures such as these. The classroom, administration, and kitchen-cafeteria sections particularly needing attention approximate 75,000 square feet of floor space. Future construction of an auditorium would perhaps add an additional 15,000 square feet. The original plans for this building included adaptability for a chilled water system to be added at a later date. The existing heat distribution system of piping and univents would be used by completing some modifications and adding proper mechanical equipment such as compressors and cooling towers. Mr. James Cowan, the building architect, estimated this cost at approximately $75,000 in 1964. Incinerator, Receiving Facility The old smokestack was left in the middle of the new construction at this school. Installation of grill work, spark catcher, and reinstallation of the doors would give us a safe and much needed incinerator. In this same general area of the old mechanical room, make-shift receiving and storage facilities have been installed. This should be revamped to properly handle the great amount of material received at this school. We have purchased surplus conveyor rollers for this purpose. The concrete overhead ceiling would make an acceptable dock. At present, delivery vehicles are at a loss to know where to deliver their goods except in the case of the cafeteria. The existing elevator shaft extends down into this mechanical room which would be ideal for freight delivery to all levels of the high school. Elevator A three-level elevator shaft only was included in the construction of the new high school, extending from the old basement mechanical room in Unit I to the second story in the vicinity of the library. Installation of an elevator would facilitate delivery of goods to all levels, eliminate moving of heavy equipment such as floor machines from one level to another by stairway, and also permit handicapped students (example: student in a leg cast) to meet his class schedules in this building more easily. Access Roads A thin, temporary cover of crushed rock has been laid in the steam plant laundry location and an access road to the east side of the boys' gym is under development. Both of these areas must be blacktopped to permit reasonable vehicle traffic to these points. Carmichael Junior High School Hall Lockers For the past six years this school has requested consideration be given to start replacing hall lockers. Considerable repair work is done each summer on these units. However, excessive wear of mechanisms and combination locks dictate a need for replacement. Word of warning: due to nationwide demand, locker manufacturers are extremely independent. Deliveries of six months to a year are not uncommon after placing an order. Unless this situation changes, a replacement program should get underway well in advance of actual needs and installation of locker units. Auditorium Acoustics The Auditorium of this school should be equipped with several strategically placed auxiliary speakers to solve a bad acoustic problem. A new built-in audio system would be ideal. Contrariwise, the gym needs baffles, mineral acoustic blocks, or some like treatment to solve a severe sound problem. Ventilation Several lavoratories and classrooms need additional exhaust venting. Chief Joseph Junior High School Science Suite At present, five mathematics classes are being held in the cafeteria in this school. If the present unused "middle" room of the science section (presently in photographic darkrooms) were remodeled into a science room, an academic classroom could be released for mathematics. This remodeling would involve quite extensive removal of walls, cabinets, sinks, and other equipment. It would require extensive changing of plumbing and electrical components and would perhaps include a large room-dividing curtain (folding wall) to accomplish what is wanted in this section. Flooring Considerable retiling work has already been accomplished at this school. Listed work is the remainder. One possible change would be to carpet the library rather than retile, in which case the cost estimates would have to be raised. Auditorium Drapes The auditorium of this school is extensively used by the schools and also by community groups such as Richland Light Opera. This is the hardest used auditorium in the district. The entire drapery installation is badly in need of replacement. Spalding Elementary School Heating Plant and Zone Heating The coal-burning unit at this school is completely outdated. Only one bidder for coal has been our experience the past four years. Stoker parts are getting increasingly difficult to obtain. This method of heating is dirty, resulting in patron/neighbor complaints, extra custodial attention in cleaning and heating plant attention, and several other problems. Trade journals no longer carry comparison statistics on this heating medium with oil, gas, and electricity when relating to school heating. Two Kewanee Type C coal-burning units now serve this school. Conversion recommendation would perhaps be to heavy oil with diesel oil for back up and pre-heating. In addition to the burner change-over, safety control additions and several minor modifications such as firebox changes, two underground fuel storage tanks would be required in suggested capacities of 8,000 gallons and 500 gallons. Conversion of the existing zone heating system to individual room control would eliminate a constant problem at this school. Conversion work would require the addition of pneumatic valves at each convector in the building and necessitate running copper tubing to the existing room thermostats. Several years ago a Johnson controls representative estimated materials alone in excess of $6,000 to accomplish this change. Library The present library is (1) grossly inadequate in size, (2) poorly located in the building (it is off the administration office next to the kindergarten classrooms, and (3) is equipped with shelving too high to properly accommodate elementary youngsters. This facility should be moved to a more central part of the building to make it particularly accessible to the upper grade youngsters and to all grades in general. The idea of remodeling two classrooms into one library would provide the needed space for library as well as provide an audiovisual distribution center. Retiling One corridor was replaced last summer. Several other sections of the building are due. Within the next five years, all flooring materials should be replaced. Of the total of approximately 60,000 square feet of tile at this building, around 50,000 square feet of it should be replaced within the above stated time. Maintenance Shop and Warehouse Quonset Huts Space is a premium for the services department of Maintenance, Operation, and Transportation. All crafts and grounds personnel operate out of one small shop. This leads to many problems. For example, the painters must finish in an extremely dusty atmosphere on projects of pre-built and pre-finished nature in the same general area of carpenters' power equipment. A partial solution to this problem of space need would be to move the Jason Lee hutment and the wrestling hut located at the high school into the maintenance yard for storage, painters' building, and other purposes. The removal of these buildings from their present location where they are in poor or no usage would also add to the esthetics of the school sites. Busport This district has never had adequate facilities to house and protect transportation, service, or grounds equipment. A frame shed is used to shelter some materials and equipment but can accommodate only a small percentage of the equipment. A twenty-four stall busport would extend the life of our transportation equipment, would eliminate considerable manhours of adverse weather-snow and sleet removal-and would provide emergency shelter for materials when need arises. Additional sizing of this structure would permit protection of service and grounds equipment as well. This structure would be a pre-engineered unit with one closed end to house bins for materials relating to transportation. Details and Justification by Job Category Roof Renewal and Replacement Most of our roofing throughout the district is flat, built-up installations of fifteen to twenty years of life expectancy. Much of it has been renewed with mesh and emulsion treatments to extend roof life an additional five to seven years. All of these areas are approaching, or have approached or exceeded, their intended life. All are frequently patched. Roof renovation work would involve preparation work of cleaning, blister patching, and other general repair after which additional building (roofing) papers would be added with application of coatings to give the structure what would amount to as a "better than new" roof. Roof replacement work is imperative on graveled roofing. It is necessary to completely remove all surface material and then replace all removed material with new. This frequently, as experienced recently with the flat areas of Marcus Whitman, necessitates roof removal down to bare decking. On these roofs, costs are greater than original since far greater preparation work is necessary. District-Wide Groundswork Reasonable and attractive blacktop play and parking areas as well as turfed playgrounds are essential to a complete educational structure. At present, we have many deplorable situations around the district in these areas. For example: Lewis and Clark-the playground to the north, west, and southwest is in bad need of complete development, including new irrigation systems, topsoil, and reseeding. This school also needs re-surfacing of the Caples Street driveway and parking area. Spalding is in bad need of much attention along these same lines. All other schools need attention in varying degree. It has been our experience and observation that turfed play areas, asphalted play areas, and parking facilities are almost always left undone during construction and remodeling times with the intention of finishing them "when finances are available at a later date." Many projects drag on for years and, in fact, never are accomplished or are completed at an economic-barely-adequate level. Examples of this are our irrigation systems, roadways, walkways, and parking areas serving Columbia High School. This should be avoided if at all possible. Blacktopping Needs (Some Specific Projects) Marcus Whitman: On-street parking only is available to the staff and patrons of this school except for a few spaces available to the east of this building. Project: Development of a 100 auto parking lot of 30,000 square feet. Lewis and Clark: Re-asphalt Caples Street driveway and parking area— 34,380 square feet. Sacajawea South parking lot "shot and cover" of 50,000 square feet. Columbia High School: Shot and cover blacktop job of gravel parking lot west of the school-191,000 square feet. Reseal Work of Parking and Play Areas-throughout the district in most needed areas-300,000 square feet. An effort to accomplish the above projects would permit district fund usage in other areas of walkway, driveway, and play areas in future years. Irrigation and Landscaping (Some Specific Projects) Irrigation system "remodeling" from existing standpipe and hose systems to pop-up systems in several areas is imperative. These systems are in poor condition and require a great deal of manpower to maintain the turfed areas. Standpipes and hoses are safety hazards on the playgrounds. These materials are also a target of vandalism on frequent occasions. The underground system at Marcus Whitman School has been a particularly expensive system to maintain. Because of the poor quality of piping and pop-ups, this system must be replaced for economic reasons. According to the records and by advice of the best authority available at this time, irrigation systems composed of underground plastic piping, sprinkler heads, valves, and other related equipment will vary from $2,500 to $3,500 per acre to install, including labor. Using the low figure of $3,000 per acre, the following projects are submitted: Marcus Whitman: Replace existing system, 7 acres Lewis and Clark: Replace standpipe hose system, 10 acres Other locations for consideration are: Columbia High School, 4 acres; Jason Lee, 3 acres; Spalding, 15 acres ; and Chief Joseph, 3 acres. Bomber Bowl At present, we are in the process of bleacher replacement on the west or "home" side of Bomber Bowl. The concessions and storage building is also being remodeled and renovated. Columbia High School has also purchased a new football scoreboard which will be installed for usage this football season. This, however, solves only a part of the problems relating to this physical education, athletic, and community usage complex. The east bleachers are comprised of a wooden structure approaching twenty years of age. This is rapidly deteriorating in spite of reasonable preventative maintenance. This structure should be replaced with a permanent, pre-stressed concrete bleacher structure with facilities underneath to house (1) team rooms, (2) lavatories, (3) concession stand and equipment storage. This would serve both the football field and baseball field. Bomber Bowl is in hard usage with both varsity and junior varsity teams from both junior schools and the senior high school using it for all home games in football and track plus student and community usage for such activities as marching bands, Boy Scout and Cub Scout circuses, Fourth of July fireworks |