BATAVIA — The Batavia City School District will replace the public address/clock system at the High School and make the interior of Robert Morris school more secure through projects the Board of Education approved Monday night. The board also approved the transfer of up to $244,000 from the district’s repair reserve to the general fund to pay for the work as needed.
The first project Business Administrator Scott Rozanski talked about at Monday’s board meeting is to replace the public address and clock system at Batavia High School.
“It’s been rapidly failing for the last year or so, so we’ve been looking at how we can resolve this situation,” he said. “This PA system was installed in 2003. The system’s used daily. The volume of the PA’s OK, but the bells, the PA itself and the clocks are all integrated into one system, as the clocks are affected at the high school, they do not track the appropriate time. It’s not in alignment with the satellite systems.”
Rozanski said the district is making adjustments on a weekly basis.
“We lose about four to five minutes a week. The bells aren’t ringing as scheduled,” he said. “They’re inconsistent at variable times and it’s difficult to determine if the student’s late or not if the times aren’t holding. Parts are no longer available and we’re unable to get repairs accomplished.”
There’s no need for architect or construction manager fees, or state Education Department approval, the business administrator said. There’s no building aid from the state for the project. The cost will be $118,860.
“That will be the total cost, unless, when they go through the project, they find a change order or something like that, but it’s not anticipated at this point in time,” Rozanski said.
Regarding entry and classroom door hardware at Robert Morris school, the cost will be $35,543. The building had been closed from July 2012 until the district began using it this September.
“We have currently met all safety and security measures to get Robert Morris up and functioning for the beginning of the school year. There’s no significant classroom door hardware that was replaced and updated since July 2012. Because Robert Morris was closed for students, we’ve had minimal maintenance on it. It’s a manual process versus an automatic process to close doors in case of a lockdown.”
The project calls for having hydraulic closures on 22 classrooms at the school. It aligns with upgrades the district had done in other buildings four or five years ago through a Smart School project, he said.
“We would also create a little mantrap and electronic door-locking equipment is needed to do this …” he said. “This will provide additional increased security measures,” Rozanski told the board. “We do currently secure the exterior of the building automatically. The building is currently safe and this scope will further enhance safety, response time and awareness, and to mitigate the possible breaching opportunities.”
Rozanski said a mantrap means that when someone comes through a first door at the school, that person is in a space where he or she can’t enter further unless buzzed into the building.
There would be no professional or construction manager fees for this project either, Rozanski said. The district’s architect is reviewing this project because Batavia may need state Department of Education approval.
“This one may take a little bit more time if SED needs to get involved, but we know what the cost is. Barring any problems with the installation, and a change order, it should only be $35,543,” he said.
Rozanski said the district is asking for up to $244,000 because a week or a week and a half ago, we didn’t know if there were additional fees for professional services. Aside from the costs for the work at the High School and Robert Morris, $89,597 is included in the transfer of funds if needed.
“It allows us the flexibility if we run into problems,” he said. “If you recall, almost two years ago, when the Middle School elevator went down, we had to come back to the board for additional funding because our initial quote was off. That was a different situation, because there were a lot of unknowns you couldn’t see, below.”
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