PDK consultants tell Sheldon ISD board: eight aging campuses show $80M+ in near‑term needs; options include targeted repairs or rebuilds

PDK consultants told the Sheldon ISD Board of Trustees that eight district facilities — whose average age is roughly 54 years — need substantial maintenance and system replacements, and that the district must weigh a near‑term program of repairs against the cost of rebuilding some campuses.

Caroline Harris, who led the planning team for PDK, said the assessment focused on “major systems of the buildings” and used on‑site walkthroughs, principal interviews and a line‑by‑line engineering review to produce a campus‑level packet with prioritized line items. “I like to think of it as taking the temperature of your buildings,” Harris said.

Consultants reported that the bulk of the district’s priority‑one and priority‑two needs are concentrated in mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems (MEP), citing aging boilers, air handlers, pumps and related infrastructure. A pie‑chart the team showed summarized total near‑term needs at “a little over $80 million” across the eight assessed facilities. The firm also noted that many architectural finishes and systems have reached end‑of‑life despite strong maintenance practices.

On athletics facilities, the structural engineer’s review of Cren(n)shaw Stadium found it to be structurally sound but to have visible architectural deterioration and ADA access shortfalls. The consultants said the stadium’s press box and other finishes would benefit from targeted work but did not recommend immediate structural remediation.

The assessment raised KMS (a middle‑school campus) as a point of strategic choice: consultants said that, given the number of buildings and the condition of systems, district leaders could spend an estimated multi‑million (consultants noted figures up to roughly $90 million in one scenario) to renovate the campus over five years or evaluate a replacement that could cost less than phased renovation. The consultants flagged that such choices carry ripple effects: replacing MEP components may require electrical upgrades and other scope increases.

The team used Autodesk Construction Cloud to geocode findings and photographs, and assigned priority levels (P1 immediate through P4 long‑term) to each recommended action in the campus packets. The consultants recommended the district pair the FCA results with bond‑program planning so that projects are sequenced against remaining bond funds and state/federal reimbursement opportunities.

Next steps described to the board included deeper scrub sessions between administration, maintenance, and the consultants to prioritize P1 items and identify candidate projects that could be funded through remaining bond capacity. The consultants emphasized the role of long‑range planning: “If you were to build a school there, there’s some cost savings in the fact that you already have your central plant,” one presenter said, describing tradeoffs when building on an existing campus footprint.

The board received the FCA and will use the detailed campus packets and priority lists to inform capital budgeting and bond‑program decisions.

Ending: The board asked follow‑up questions about stadium lighting, track and site circulation. Administration said the FCA will be used to produce detailed campus recommendations for future board consideration.