Salem work marks end of '04 bond

The party wasn't for a retiring teacher or a departing administrator; instead, administrators, school board members and officials with construction manager McCarthy-Smith gathered to say good-bye to the 2004 school bond program.

Board members got their first real look at the final remnants of the bond passed six years ago when they toured the remodeled Salem High School, where contractors were putting the finishing touches to a new entrance, new administrative area and 10 new or repurposed classrooms, all paid for with proceeds from the bond.

“This is the end of a long relationship with the 2004 bond,” said Ken Jacobs, deputy superintendent for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. “The journey began in 2000 with a facilities study and the planning phase.”

It's the final construction project under the $109 million 2004 bond, which saw work done at 26 district buildings, including the final $4.1 million remodeling project at Salem.

The project — which wasn't on the original list of things to be done under the bond — added the new classrooms by moving office space downstairs to a rebuilt courtyard near the existing entrance to the building.

Eight of the classrooms are new, while one existing classroom was remodeled and a former conference room was repurposed. Inspectors were due to take their final look at the building Thursday; district administrators are confident everything will be in place when school starts next week.

“We'll be in here a while (with workers), but we expect to be ready for the kids by Sept. 7,” Jacbos said. “We may not have the staff area completely done yet, but we'll be ready for the students.”

Work on the project got started last fall and was done, according to Doug Underwood of construction manager McCarthy-Smith, without too many disruptions or delays. Crews did run into “some concrete we weren't expecting” when they began excavating, but it wasn't enough to slow the project.

“Starting off, the biggest challenge was site logistics, closing off the front of the building,” Underwood said. “Once construction got going, we battled the weather a little bit, but we made out OK.”

The work at Salem wasn't even on the original plan for the bond, but was made possible because each of the bond's projects came in on time and under budget.

“We've been very fortunate to have achieved some success because of the economy,” Jacobs said. “We've been able to take advantage of that.”