Board hears updates on new elementary school, athletic complex site and tech lab; GMP expected in December

Superintendent Sawyers told the Board of Education the district has completed a design-review submission for a new elementary school that will serve all-day kindergarten, first and second grades and is scheduled for the New Albany Architectural Review Board hearing on Nov. 10. "A guaranteed maximum price should come forward to the Board of Education no later than December," Sawyers said, adding that early site work could begin in January if approvals and bidding proceed on schedule.

Sawyers said the district's construction-manager team has placed bid packages on the street and is seeking active bids for the full package; the district plans two early-site packages for earthwork and electrical work to address trade shortages. He named the firms processing bids in the transcript as "Resili" and "Shore," and said they are working on packaging and timelines.

On the athletic campus, Sawyers said the district received formal notice from the city manager, Mr. Stepanov, that the city is in a purchase contract with the property owner for the Discover site and has started discussions with the city attorney on a lease agreement for the district's use of the property for athletics. The superintendent said the city has requested certain amenities on the property (a walking trail around the perimeter, a playground and a central plaza with ticketing and gathering space) but clarified in the meeting those requests referred to use of the land and not that the district would necessarily pay for construction of those features.

Sawyers said partners would present an updated rendering for the athletic campus by the board's Nov. 10 meeting, and that a stakeholder meeting had been postponed to allow finalization of draft layouts. He said one stadium retrofit project on the district campus remains in a planning "time out" with no progress, while other phase 1 projects are moving toward timelines in November or December.

Separately, Sawyers said the district is continuing work on a tech hub at the high school with Eastland-Fairfield that would support a broadcast-journalism career pathway. He named staff helping advance the program in the transcript as Ms. Roche, Ms. Lofton and Dr. Russell and said a definitive timeline for that project is expected in November.

Board members did not take new construction or lease votes at the meeting; Sawyers described the updates as verbal and preparatory to the Nov. 10 package and potential GMP presentation. He said early site packages are intended to secure critical trades and that a formal GMP and final bid packages would be returned to the board for approval when available.