It was a big day for the Hartville R-II School District on Monday, Dec. 20 when administrators, Superintendent Mark Piper and Principal Adam Cook, and the Board of Education held an official groundbreaking for the new FEMA Project just in front of the hight school.
The project includes the construction of a 7,200 square-foot FEMA Safe room. The space is designed to serve the public in times of weather-related danger. It will also serve the school district on a regular basis as a multi-purpose center to be utilized as a performing arts center and as an additional gymnasium. Three existing classrooms will be remodeled and enlarged by a 2,650 square-foot expansion. The expansion will become the new instrumental and vocal music classrooms.
These classrooms will be accessible from the high school hallway as well as a performing arts stage overlooking the interior of the multi-purpose center.
Superintendent Piper said the “south facing exterior of the existing school building from the FEMA shelter to the main entrance will undergo improvements to become safer and more aesthetically pleasing. Specifically, walkways and railings will be reconstructed. The main entrance will undertake improvements to make it a fully secured entrance.”
Construction is expected to begin in January 2022 and is expected to take a little more than one year to complete.
Construction is expected to begin in January 2022 and is projected to take a little over one year to complete.
On Sep. 13, the Board of Education accepted a bid from Branco Construction for $5,042,000 to complete the capital improvement project. On Sep. 16, the district was awarded a FEMA grant for $2,025,000. That was when the design phase began. It required planning and negotiation with FEMA geared to the FEMA portion of the project.
The design was also approved.
