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Architects present new-build and renovation options, wide-ranging cost estimates for Shenandoah County schools
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Summary
Architects and district staff presented a conceptual '30,000-foot' facilities study with options for a new elementary, renovations at three elementary schools, CTE satellite options, and preliminary cost ranges; the board postponed a vote to March 12 for full-member participation.
Architects working with Shenandoah County Public Schools gave the board a high-level review of possible major capital projects on Feb. 2, laying out options that range from renovating three elementary schools to building a new elementary and creating a satellite career-technical (VOTEC/CTE) campus.
Presenters said a new elementary could be about 90,000 square feet and that high-level, preliminary cost estimates vary significantly in the slides shown. One slide listed a new elementary construction estimate in the tens of millions (architects presented a $45,000,000 figure for a new build in a summary view), while other figures in the transcript appear anomalous (a slide was read as "$4,043,000,000" which is likely a transcription error). Renovation-and-expansion scenarios for Sandy Hook, W.W. Robinson and Ashley Lee were presented with a combined preliminary estimate ranging from roughly $42 million to $54 million (expansion and renovation) and a broader 30,000-foot estimate of about $70 million for combined new-build plus renovations.
Architects described common renovation priorities across the three elementary sites: adding kitchen serving lines to reduce lunch bottlenecks, enlarging cafeterias, replacing movable partition walls with permanent walls, creating additional dedicated special-education rooms, improving administrative office visibility for safety and adding appropriately sized gym/auditorium spaces. They also proposed locating a VOTEC satellite on district-owned land south of Muhlenberg to ease traffic and create program-specific facilities (diesel/automotive at the Mount Jackson Press Building; cosmetology and criminal-justice programs at Woodstock).
Board members pressed on contingency assumptions, staging and the realism of completing major renovations in a single summer. Staff and architects warned that unknown conditions (for example, aging HVAC systems and single-pane windows) can materially increase costs once construction starts and stressed the need for more refined architectural and engineering design to firm estimates.
The board did not vote that evening. Architects said the vote originally scheduled for Feb. 12 was postponed to March 12 so all members could participate and have time to review supplemental materials.
Next steps: staff and architects will refine scopes and budgets in advance of the March 12 meeting; prioritization, sequencing and funding sources (including potential state construction grants) remain to be decided.
