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Board approves door replacement bids for Holbrook and Dickinson East amid funding cuts
Summary
The board awarded bids to replace interior doors at Holbrook and Dickinson East, saying those sites fit available health-and-safety funding after a near-90% reduction in a prior funding stream.
The Hamtramck Board of Education voted to award bids for door replacement projects at Holbrook and Dickinson East, citing building condition and available health-and-safety funding.
Interim Superintendent James Larson told the board the district’s door replacement plan began in 2022 using a health-and-safety funding source identified in the meeting as “31-DDA” (state aid funding). That funding year provided roughly $700,000 with up to 50% usable for safety infrastructure; Larson said funding was sharply reduced in 2024–25 to approximately $60,000, a reduction of about 90 percent. Larson said the district selected Holbrook and Dickinson East as the start of the replacement process because the number and condition of doors at those schools align with the limited funding available.
Larson told trustees the doors identified are interior units and that the district needs to place orders promptly to have locksets and doors in production for summer installation. Trustees asked about allowances and potential hidden costs tied to construction in older buildings; Larson noted that the district has encountered asbestos abatement in prior projects (for example, at Dickinson East) and that opening walls during work can reveal additional remediation needs. The board recorded a unanimous voice vote in favor of awarding the bids, with one member absent.
Board members and staff said further funding will be required to extend the replacement work to additional buildings and that the district will seek funding options as designs and priorities are finalized.
