001can put it in the chat. >> Yeah, put it in the chat. >> Oh, there Mike, can you put it in the chat? >> So, Mike said yes via text. >> Okay. Okay. So minutes carrying. >> So that'll carry. Um all right. Did we uh do we know if we had any requests for public comment? >> No. So no request for public comment. >> Okay. So then we'll move on to uh item four, presentation or review of capital project for potential 2027 bond. Uh and the first one will be a presentation and discussion on middle school library renovations. >> So can can you guys hear me now? >> Yeah. >> Yes. Okay. So, just um for way of orientation, um we know that we have a lot of projects that are on the potential bond
002list. So, what we um thought we should do is that before we actually decide what we want to bond for and what we think we may either defer, delay, or not do at all, we should have a presentation about all of the things that are on the bond list. So that way you as a facilities committee understand what those items are, what they involve, why the cost is what it is. Um it's a great time to ask questions about those projects. And I think we have about four meetings scheduled between now and the beginning of um April, right? >> Yes. >> Um so that we can review every single item that we have proposed on that list. After we've done that, we're going to reconvene as a committee and determine what are the things that
003we think we should bond for. What are the things we think we could potentially use the educational reserve fund for or what are the things that we just don't think our community can handle at this time. Um, so I just want to I just want everybody to understand the context of this right now. kind of the next four four um meetings are really just information gathering and a great chance to ask questions about the projects about why we need them about what the potential um um uh outcome would be. And then once we have all that information as a committee we would be able to recommend the items that we believe should be included in a potential um bond referendum. Um, so again, I don't think we have a ton of decisions to make over
004the next um, sort of four meetings, but lots of information to take in. Um, so that's kind of how I'm going to set this up. And then um, we do have two of the um, projects to just discuss tonight. um one being the middle school library media centers and the other the lighting um and sound systems in kind of all of our stage areas at both the middle schools and the high school. Um so with that in context, I will kind of move on to the next agenda item. So we have um Miss Amanda Cleveland here to go over the library projects. Um I would just need to share my screen. So, do I have permission to do that? >> Uh, I'll find out. >> It seems like I might >> try it. And if
005you don't, I'll try to >> Yeah, you're good. >> Okay. All right. So, that's the meeting. Okay, Amanda, take it away. >> Okay. So, hello. My name is Amanda Cleveland. I've recognized most of you, but for those of you who don't know me, um with Silver Petraeli and Associates for the firm that was hired to review the two media centers. Um just a quick synopsis of how we got where we were today. Um we did sit down with both um principles of the schools to kind of run through what their needs and wants were and having just kind of come off the tail end of the high school project and wanting to make sure that there was um parody and almost like a transition plan from the middle school to the high school. That's how
006we uh then generated the floor plans for both of the schools. Um so here we are looking at the Bethany campus. Uh there are a couple of different options um that we're providing on this one, but just to give you a sense as you walk in through the main door, you'll see that we are putting in a modular seating area. We have the circulation desk as you move further down. Um I'm going to look at a bigger plan on mine cuz my eyes aren't as good. Um circulation desk which has a good view of the front door as well as a nice view off to the side down the stacks to make sure that kids aren't doing anything that they shouldn't be doing. Um, we have then created a small maker space out of what
007I believe was an original existing office. We have created an internal classroom um that can be used by the media center and if necessary it could be divided um using furnishings but for now we can house at least one to two classrooms in here. And then we are taking the old teched room uh and creating that as a green screen room. We are showing the option that if it's not ideal for students to access um the tech building on the outside, so in other words, they'd have to leave the school, walk outside, go to see tech, um we do have the ability to do a small addition to add the tech office off of the library. Uh we would skirt just past the existing exterior door so we wouldn't impact that egress path. and then
008we would just reroute the sidewalk going out to um the existing perimeter sidewalk. Um as far as volumes go, we're maintaining a very similar volume count to what's in the media center already. Really just looking at providing more flexible and different options of seating. And then you'll see um another alternative we're proposing and it's shown very lightly is it says line of an add alternate clear story. Um, so if you've been in the high school, you know there's a volume space, uh, which does provide additional daylight. It's a little difficult to add windows to this space because of the perimeter stacks. So if the budget supported it, we were showing the ability to um, punch a hole in the ceiling, raise the roof a little bit, and add some additional daylighting through a clear story
009space. Um, that's a 50 mph view of this particular plan. So, I don't know if you want me to pause for any questions uh for Bethany. Okay, 15 miles an hour is a good pace. Uh if you'd like to go to the the next plan, um there are a couple of different options for the Orange campus. Um scoot into mine. Um in this particular case, we have a classroom. T Yeah, Terry, if you can zoom in, that would be awesome. Um there is a classroom that currently exists right now which you're seeing is the one labeled as digital media room. We would look to take over that current classroom to make it the digital media and then puncture a hole into this room here which is the recording studio um down the existing quarter. If
010you come off the quarter through the main lobby, you'll see we are reorienting the circulation desk again so that it's more centralized so you can see down the hallway for who's coming in. You can see down the stacks as well as see the classroom space. Uh we did relocate and create a media center office. And then um we are keeping right now showing an enclosed classroom. We are proposing adding in some daylighting um by adding some um windows or vision glass in between uh if you want to keep that place separate. And then we have a new classroom up to the north again that can um substitute having additional classroom space. So you could have two classrooms coming in at once. The tech office you'll see is then located just outside the corridor um to
011the north of the media center. And in this particular case, uh we're not looking for doing any additional exterior windows or clear stories. And I think if you go to the next option, in this particular case, uh the layout is basically the same. The big difference is we remove that um wall that separated the classroom and now the tables and chairs are more free floating uh in the open library space versus enclosed. And then I think the next option shows the ability to add in a folding partition. So it's really about three different levels of flexibility of space. The first one being the least expensive because you're leaving an existing wall. You're just putting in a few windows and doors. The second one fully opens the space and allows for more flexibility. The third adds
012in a folding partition, which they can be expensive, but if you ever wanted to have the option for one big space, but then to close it down, the folding partition is really a great way to do that. That's those are the options for orange. And and just by way of just a a little bit of background, um when we first initiated this study, the big question that we had was was there any ability for us as a school district to add additional classroom spaces and still receive full state reimbursement for the renovation. Um because as anybody who who works in schools or has experienced it knows class uh space is a premium and anytime we can get another classroom it's like the ideal situation. So that was kind of what we um charged uh silver
013Petraelli with was can you look at where we are with our existing kind of configuration and is there any possibility or option for getting additional classroom space while at the same time maintaining the overall kind of square footage that's going to allow us to get full state reimbursement. Um, and if I understand correctly, Amanda, the um, Bethany was just slightly smaller in terms of square footage, which is correct why we could add that additional sort of tech area, >> but at in orange, we don't actually um necessarily need that because we can reconfigure the the library space as it is. >> That's correct. Correct. We had a little more real estate. >> Can I ask a quick question? Um, Dr. Dr. Buyers, can you just explain a little bit more about I guess I don't
014I'm not familiar with the rules around why grant funding limitations would be related to classroom space or not. So, Amanda may be able to explain this better, but essentially what they do is they look at the square footage that you have of your building and then your enrollment numbers and they determine what percentage of your grant funding you you can actually um use. And each and and each reimbursement is based upon the towns themselves and their ability to pay. Um, so if for example we built a space that was square footage wise bigger than what our enrollment says we need to have, we wouldn't receive the full state reimbursement. Um, so we were trying to work within those parameters to make sure that we got 100% of the state reimbursement with and add as much
015possible square footage as we as we could. So just so I think I understand is by creating classroom space within the existing footprint, we're not expanding square footage. So we are correct. >> Okay. Got it. >> Correct. >> Yeah. They just want to make sure that you're not overdesigning and and providing a space that's bigger than what you currently need. And therefore what they do is penalize isn't necessarily the right word, but when you go over that square footage for your enrollment, they reduce your reimbursement rate by that percentage. >> Got it. And the other question I had, and maybe this is for I don't do we have the media specialists on here. >> We do not, but they did contribute some of their ideas initially to the project. And what we'll do is at
016the point when we make a decision of what it is that we want, they are going to weigh in a little bit more on the configuration. Um we'll do the same things we did at the high school. We'll let the kids test out furniture um items to see what they like best. Um and we'll be able to have um a little bit more input. But I think that the biggest thing is, you know, is is this something that we're going to look to move forward with? we don't want to kind of give those options if we're not moving forward with the project first. >> I guess it would be helpful from like a board perspective, I think, to understand kind of like what the goals or objectives were in terms of like we're redesigning this
017space. What are the three to five things we're trying to achieve? Um, so then >> I think I saw both Kathy and Jason on the call. So I don't know if as principles because I know you guys were the ones who originally had the meeting and we talked about some of the things we're hoping to accomplish. So I don't know if hearing from both of you would be helpful. >> Yeah, sure. >> Yeah. Go ahead, >> Jason. Go ahead. >> Well, one of the things I mean I think Meg to to start off with is to add more classroom space. like we need that. You know, right now we do a lot of what's called interdisciplinary work. So like two teams will get together and they'll, you know, or two classrooms from teams will get
018together in the library and do some work down there. And so when they do that, the library is shut because right now there's just one big open space. If there were a classroom they can go into, um then the library could still operate. Kids can come in and make copies, get books, the things they have to do, and then have that classroom off to the side. So that was, you know, definitely one um one of the goals. One of the other goals was to kind of just modernize the space. Right now, I think that space was designed, you know, probably in the 60s. Um and it doesn't really kind of fit what schools do right now, which is a lot more collaborative work, a lot more kind of smaller breakout kind of areas. Right now
019there's just one big area. Um and so I know that was that was another um another thing. And then in Bethany adding this maker space and a place where kids can go in and um it's kind of a tech area where kids can go in and use 3D printers and do some kind of you know other things that allows them to apply some of the learning they're doing in their classroom um you know on their own time when they have time whether it's you know during a academic success period or a break to go in there and use that space. So it modernizes it >> and you know >> y >> in orange um again the classroom space um you know that when we took a a good look and we realized that we could
020carve out another classroom um certainly that's a big plus because we're always in need of another space separate and apart from the media center. Um, also, um, in terms of the digital media and really expanding that program, um, and really returning to like a news broadcast, um, it just made sense to put a studio in off that space and, um, have it connected to the media center because so much of the work that, uh, digital media does is connected with functions within the media center. Um and again um the space that is behind or below um the studio that was traditionally our um LGI um we did take some space out of there but we feel like we still have a large space where we can uh gather full teams of kids. Um so that's
021a big collaboration space and really just use it more effectively. Thank you. >> And I think overall the proposal gives some equity between the two schools right now. Um Bethany doesn't even have anything equivalent to an LGI. Um we use the space in orange all the time. Um, so just the idea of having some sort of um similar structure so that way programs that we run like the digital media classes could actually have the same kinds of spaces to work in is another objective that we we were hoping to achieve from this idea. We do have the two uh cost proposals attached as well. I could get down there. >> Okay. And I'm happy to answer in-depth questions, but if we take a look um at a schematic level, we keep it somewhat high and
022we look at it as costs per square foot. So, as you can see, we have construction costs. When you look at the general architectural, demolition, and new construction, um plumbing, fire protection, mechanical, and electrical costs, that's roughly about $567,000. Then there's uh contractor cost. So, you'll see that there's an estimated general conditions. Um that's basically their cost to have a site super, to mobilize, to have materials and stuff available to them. Their overhead and profit um they will generally carry um a contingency. So we have a 10% for unforeseen conditions. Um everything we've done to this point has been visual in nature. We haven't done any selective demolition to know what's behind walls or uh truly above ceilings. And then we've also put in a 6% escalation cost. Probably one of the biggest problems that
023we can see from an early stage like this to when you actually get to going to the state is that you start with numbers in 2025, you get all the way out to 2028 and obviously there's been some um increase in cost. So we do build in a 6% escalation between um now 2026 pricing through 2028. Um so that brings our construction costs up to 853,000. And then there's what's called owner soft cost. So that's our A&E fees, any attorney fees to review documentation. Um FFNE move management. So whoever is going to come in and remove volumes from shelves, store them, and then bring them back in. You have your state permit fees. um if there's any structural work as we talked about doing the clear stories um you have that um special testing, material
024testing, printing of legal notices and then just a general owner contingency that's usually about again 10%. So those soft costs add up to another 531,000. So you'll see all in between construction contractor and owner soft costs. That's where we're coming up with the $1.3 million project budget. And then down on the bottom, um, you'll see that there is some alternative costs. So, if you do decide to do specifically for Bethany to add in the technology office edition, that would be an additional $360,000. And then if you were to add the clear story, we have the $200,000 allowance for that. Um, any specific questions about that or kind of make sense? Okay. Uh so generally speaking for orange very similar breakout. So you'll see our construction costs come out to 1.1 with added soft costs. We're
025at 1.6. And truly the only additional or alternate cost that we've provided here is if we were to do the movable partition that would be another $41,000. So they're pretty comparable in price um in terms of the scope of work. Um but that's um that's what we're looking at budget-wise for now. and and I think you know our what we um received and are working with for the high school library media center which is essentially twice as big as the middle schools. It's all kind of like parsing out to be about what we had anticipated and expected. Um so um you know obviously it's a couple years later so the um the escalation costs have gone up but overall I don't think this is outside of what we were anticipating um when we first started
026this discussion you know four years ago. Does anybody have any other questions for Amanda, for the principles, for the proposed projects? Um, for the goals of what we're trying to accomplish or what we're looking to do. Um, because again, ultimately in the end, we're going to look and see is this something that we value that we want to potentially either bond for or use our reserve funds for. Um and and certainly at some point um you know once we go up to bid for the architects and all of the construction we'll have opportunities to ask more questions and more details. But just from an initial analysis of of what we're capable of doing are there any additional questions from the committee? I don't have any questions, but I I think I if possible I may
027try to see if I can get a tour of both of the spaces just to kind with maybe with the diagrams of what changes we would make so that I going from a a blueprint to a space that I don't really know very well. I probably would like to see it to maybe get a better idea of of what it's going to look like if that's something we can arrange. Yeah, I think we could set that up um for um I mean I know we're like I said we're going to try to have at least three more meetings before to cover all the other projects that we have. We may even be able to kind of um hold the meetings, you know, alternatively in those spaces so that you can tour them and then we
028can bring everybody else that we want to come present. Um, you know, hopefully we're not by Zoom in the middle of, you know, 20 ft of snow, but uh we would actually be able to get there and uh and see the the physical space um and uh and take advantage of kind of doubling the meeting with a tour of the the area. >> Perfect. >> Anytime you're in the area, stop in. I know a couple of kids will give you a tour. >> Quick question, Pat. Hey uh just quick question. The the the biggest line item the FFN and technology. What what was that again and how do we come up with that? >> So that's furniture fixtures and equipment. So that's uh taking a rough cost per each of the items that were discussed
029and using the high school sort of as a guideline. Uh we have recent numbers from there that we were able to apply to both of the schools. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You're welcome. All right. So, I guess if we don't have any more questions about this, uh, Amanda, thank you so much. >> You're very welcome. If you need anything else, just let me know. >> I'm I'm sure we'll be in touch. >> Perfect. Have a great night, everyone. >> Take care. I guess our next step would be the presentation on the uh lighting for the Brady Center and the stage lighting at the middle schools. >> So yeah, so we have a couple of special guests here um tonight. Um I know I saw initially um Mr. Kennedy um on I see Mr. Fraion on.
030So, these are um and I'm not sure. I think I saw Mr. Smolinsky. I don't know if I saw Miss Samaha yet, but um she's possibly on too. Um but and um these are our teachers who actually work in these um spaces. And um for board members who are newer, um we have had um complaints over the past couple of years about the um quality of both the sound and lighting. Um, I even think our new board members are aware of the the challenge we faced in early November when the entire panel at the Brady Center went out and we had to we we just didn't have any lights at at all and had to kind of pivot um when we did an entire school day of of PD. Um so we've actually um included
031the individuals who do who use these um uh areas uh the most um with respect to stage lighting and sound just to be able to give a little sense of the challenges that they face and why updates are needed um at this time. Um so on the agenda um it starts with the um improvements for the middle school. So I think I'll turn it over to Dr. Tracy, Mrs. um Mr. Fragion and Mr. Smolinsky to just kind of share um what they are currently facing and why um upgrades would be beneficial at this point. >> So I could start off with just kind of generally um I'll start with what I see first on the list here is lighting. Um there's a lot of different issues with the lights. the lights. So, we have a
032gymnasium that also double functions as a the auditorium. And so, with that, the lights are kind of hung out over near the basketball hoop. Um, obviously that they can get hit, they can get bumped, they can get broken, and they often do. Um, but more importantly, um, one of the things to kind of know is that they're old, it's an older technology. This one kind of predates the renovation that happened in, um, in 2006. They're they're they were there before that. Um and they're old light light bulbs basically and they overheat and break and then glass rains down onto the people that are sitting underneath them. So obviously just a clear hazard. Um it it they don't there's obviously new technology now LED type technology technologies that um will light the stage better, but because
033they're up and above the basketball hoop, they're kind of in a fixed position and they really restrict the amount of area that we can light. um on the stage. Now, given all that, also there there's obviously, you know, some upgrades that need to happen to the electrical um just in general um in that area. Um kind of and I'll and I'll jump over to the sound also and then um we can just kind of have it as a as a full conversation. Um the sound system right now from what Rob tells me, Rob Fragion is kind of my sound guy. Um, if you touch the box that the the tower that the stuff is in and the actual panel, you can get shocked. Um, you do get shock. You get a shock. Um, right now
034the the the tower that we have that's there with all the amplifiers and all that. Rob has figured out a way with another a guy that came in to kind of help us a little bit um to bypass it. So, the wires are all kind of pulled out, exposed, and hooked up to a separate soundboard so that we can actually um produce some sort of sound. If Rob isn't there, I have absolutely no idea how to turn sound on because it's not press a button and plug in a microphone. It's really complicated um and potentially dangerous. So, obviously, there's uh a ton of new technology that's come out, you know, since that tower was put in. We had a guy come out a few years ago and take a look at it. There is no
035repairing it. is nothing that can be um repaired. He he thinks that actually the amplifiers and things that we had in there were secondhand when we put them in there. So um that's kind of the the 30,000 foot view. I don't know if Rob if you have anything else to add or or if Keith got on um about what you guys do specifically with it with your classes and performances. Sure. >> I'll just talk about the sound. I do want to clarify Dr. Tracy. what you were just talking about was actually the lighting board system. >> Oh, >> not not the sound, but the sound system. Well, I'll just sum up with the technician back in 2007 that was installing it cuz I was I met them and um this was state-of-the-art for any school
036back in 1970. That's what his comment was about the sound system. Um I have it's it's it's really bad to put it bluntly. it never was good. Um, and just thankfully my knowledge I've had over the years, I've learned how to um, circumvent the system. We've never used it for a concert. It's not usable. Um, if you've been to a concert or the musical at all over the last number of years, you're not hearing the gym sound system. That's all. every time we do a concert or anything, we're we're setting up an external uh system that we've sort of pieced together over the years. So, um you know, there's other times where folks come in and they need this and that and I'm usually pulling stuff from my classroom to compensate. So, uh, from a
037setup, uh, avenue, it it's a lot lot of our time for a concert is just setting up the sound because you got to place the speakers, set up the wiring. Um, and yeah, so that's a nightmare. Um, the other big thing that should be noted with any sound system is you can have a $2 million sound system, but if the room uh doesn't have good acoustics, it's it's you could be wasting so much money. So, uh, the other aspect to sound is the room. And being a gymnasium, that's a hard uh situation uh to fix. And we've made some improvements over the years between the two middle schools. Uh it certainly needs more because intelligibility uh is a key factor and uh particularly when male voices talk, we're we're a lot harder to hear in
038that room and um this current sound system doesn't allow any ability to even make try and make compensations for that um whenever we try to talk. But anyways, um you that's kind of I can answer any questions if you have um you know how we use the system. Uh I can get into if you want to know because again there's different types of um whether you're having just a sort of someone talking with a projector uh versus a full-on performance are going to require different things. Um right now as typical in most school well in our gymnasium you know everything's just located behind the uh on stage which if you're doing a musical you're trying to adjust sound that's the absolute worst spot uh for it to be. So often times we're disconnecting and running
039cables all out into the gym where we can set up a mixing board. So, when you're doing like a live show for a musical, you actually um can do what you need to do um because you can hear the sound. You can't do that when you're back behind stage. I mean, you just look at the uh the um auditorium at the high school, you know, where the sound booth is. It's in the back of the room. So, anyways, that's just sort of my uh quick synopsis of the sound. I can certainly answer any questions if folks have anything more. And Keith is more of the lighting expert. So if he wants to talk, I can let him talk. >> Yeah. Rob, can I can I Does everyone mind if I piggyback on what Rob said?
040Is that okay? >> Um, so Rob and I obvious one of the musical directors at the middle school for 11 years now. And um, over the years been trying to upgrade as much as we can. uh using whatever we can get from ticket sales. Um as Jason has said, I think the the biggest issue we had several years ago that started to happen was just we had a couple incidences. I remember we were doing Moana and the bulbs burst and the glass came down on the students. Thankfully, everyone was safe, but that was a big red flag at that point. Um, and there was also some issues where uh when we had our light techs come in to run the show, issues with shorts like happening in the board, um, issues with stability, certain lights
041not working, turning on. I was worried about the safety for the students. And so that was the number one thing that came up and that came up a couple years ago and I think it was um brought to the board a few years ago and they were saying that it would be part of a more of like a a three to five year plan to hopefully kind of upgrade the system. Uh a few years ago, I had someone come in and look at it and just kind of just to get an idea of what was happening. And they said at that point in time, and this is going back probably four years, that the system was definitely on was living on borrowed time. Uh thankfully, Mr. Kennedy from the high school let us use some
042of his equipment to kind of just function. And I think as as Rob described it best, we're kind of jerryrigging things to get it to work. um the technicians we bring in help us get some outside lightings on out to make it work. But I know this year, the last show we were doing, um it was just we didn't have the needs, we didn't have what we needed to get it done. Um there was a certain panel there and when they installed it, they didn't even have the right number of dimmers. So, I think it's a 24 dimmer panel and I think we only have access to 20 of them. um there's just not enough lighting up in the front and in the back of the house to do what we need to do for
043the shows and for the concerts. And then when we switch over between show and concert needs, we need to get lifts in there. We borrow lifts from the high school. We're up and down all the time. Um so it's just uh it becomes overwhelming and a very inconvenient thing to try to work with what's actually there. Um, so at this point, you know, at Jason said, we're looking at like a just kind of like a zoom out view of what's essential in in essence, it's not working. And so, um, when I started talking to the to the technicians who've worked with me the last couple years, they were starting to give me some recommendations. But, um, you know, I honestly want to say I'm not I am not a lighting expert. I would say I'd
044want to get someone in there from a professional company to get a, you know, a good estimate of what would actually be needed. Um, I have some general ideas from what he recommended to me, but um, unless people had those kind of questions, I think that's enough information for you to kind of get an idea of why we're pursuing this this kind of need where we're at. >> I think it's also important to point out too that Orange, Rob and and Keith both have been over to Orange. Rob definitely um and it's the same sort of issues in Orange um that that they have to you know kind of jerryrig like they said to kind of move things around and make different sound work. Um, yeah. So, >> and along the way we're adding pieces
045to kind of fill holes. But, you know, if we really want a comprehensive system that is integrated and works well together, I think that's probably the smartest way to go because every time you add another layer, you're just kind of adding the complication. The other thing to note while you know we do the plays, we do the concerts, you know that uh space serves as an auditorium for whole school events and you know the sound system uh needs to be um useful and effective throughout the year, not just for the plays and the concerts. So you know it's not something that we only turn on a few times a year. That space is used often. If if Robin if Rob and Keith aren't available to me, what I've been doing at Bethany is I use
046a JBL speaker with a microphone and that's how we talk to the kids when they're in the auditorium because it's just so complicated to hook it up otherwise. >> Megan, did you have a question? >> Yeah, just a quick question. I mean, I know it seems like maybe this is earlier stage than the middle school projects where we have like detailed cost estimates and things like that. Um, I don't doubt everything that you're saying about the needs because we're going through the same thing at our Orange Elementary School. Um, we actually had people come in to look at the lighting. It's the same like verbatim like the stuff is from the 1960s. We've had lights like overheat and shut down in the middle of a performance. Um, you know, with a gym full of people
047type situation. And like the people we had come in, you know, it can be anything from $50,000 to, you know, upwards of a million dollars depending on kind of like the specifications and what you're looking to accomplish. Um, the other thing too is that especially if you're converting to LED, which I think is the intent here, there's actually a lot of like grant funding programs available for that. Um, so I'm just curious kind of like where I I know there's a cost estimate in the bond project list. I'm just kind of curious like where that's from, how accurate we think it is. Um, >> so I'm going to I'm going to let Mr. Marton take that. But essentially, when the lighting racks went out at the high school and we knew that this was coming
048up, we actually had the same company come in and give us an estimate for what they thought the the repairs were. So, it's not um just pulling things from the sky, but something legitimate. So, um Steve, I don't know if you just want to briefly touch upon how we got the estimate for what we um would need to cover for this. >> Um I mean, yeah, we use um been using company called Superte. Uh they're the company that just did the upgrade to the house lighting over at the high school. Um, Super Tech has helped out the middle schools, especially when we had the problem with the uh the soundboard and we had to get that running one time. Uh, so just after discussion with Super Tech, kind of talking to them, they know what
049the systems are. They know what the uh the schools look like, just asking them for a quote on doing the LED upgrade and doing an upgrade on the sound systems. Uh, so, you know, that was from their professional opinion. um getting a cost estimate from them, you know, what it would take. So, I think it was I think it was 300,000 for the middle schools for both lighting and sound if I remember correctly. >> 350. Yeah. >> Is that 350 each or 350 for both? >> 350 uh each. >> Okay. You know, and again, I kind of want to emphasize what Dr. um Tracy and Mrs. Burke were saying. This it's we we often think of these spaces for the special events, whether they are, you know, the the concerts or the school musicals or
050stepping up ceremony, but they are the only place where we can gather large groups of of students together. So they are the primary um place where we can have whole class meetings or where we can welcome our families you know who are incoming seventh graders or um you know um have uh guest speakers. We they are used in a far greater capacity than what I think um uh the general public probably sees because they only see the special activities that occur there. Um and um they certainly could use um a modernization and an upgrade. Mr. Marton, I know a couple years ago we did some acoustic treatments at at the schools. I know we looked at cafeterias. Did we look at the gymnasiums at that time or did we >> We did do the gym.
051>> Okay. >> We did the ceiling in the gym. There were some wall panels in the gym currently. Uh so those stayed uh it was mostly just the the ceiling uh the cafeteria as we did the walls. >> Okay. And will we need and so it sounds like uh Dr. Smolinsky was saying that we probably really kind of we would need to look at that again. Is that was there were there more things do we remember if there were more things that they identified that we could do? >> If anything from what I remember back then was just doing more on the walls. Um, >> you know, there's really not much more we could do up in the ceiling. >> Yeah. >> You know, and these quotes also, you know, that was in talking with
052Super Tech. You know, Super Tech obviously has talked to Rob, uh, talked to Keith, so, you know, they know what they're looking for, you know, what their their ideas are. So, you know, they also got, uh, input from them when coming up with these numbers. >> Thank you. All right. Does anyone else have any questions? All right. Well, uh, gentlemen, thank you for coming and taking your time to come and speak with us. >> Thanks. >> So, I I know I saw Mr. Kennedy here to talk about the uh LED lighting in the Brady Center. Um, so, uh, and he's also got play practice, so I'm going to like turn it over to him to the extent that I can. >> Yeah. Um, to echo what the gentleman at the middle school, I've been down
053there many times. That system is just, uh, not in good shape, both the audio and the video systems there. Um, so I agree 100% what they're saying. So, just to float back to something Jen mentioned, in November, we had a we had a a lighting system go down. Um, and in fact what went down is the hard drive um that ran the house lights and that was run by a floppy disc, an actual floppy plastic floppy disc. Um, and uh, so the lighting much of the lighting infrastructure that is in the Brady Center currently is not from the 2006 renovation. It's from the 1990 mid1 1990s renovation. They repurposed a lot of the um, dimmer racks and all of the lighting equipment into the new space. So there was no new lighting brought into that
054space. It was all from the mid1 1990s. So the technology that we're currently using in there is all mid90s technology. So, you know, my selling point is how's your Windows 1995 laptop doing for you? Um, and that's kind of where we're at with the with these lights. And like like an old car, um, things are going to start falling off the car uh at some point. The transmission went now the drivetrain's going to go and all the things are going to start breaking down one at a time because the technology is just kind of at the point where it's been outdated. We haven't done any um updates to that renovations or serious um uh I would say over anything over $10,000 really in a long time in the Brady Center since in 2006. Um we
055have been piecing together over the years um stuff that we've fundraised through ticket sales. The the the school did buy some LED lights for us a couple of times. Um we're trying to uh piece mail things together. Um we the when I say we, the theater department upgraded the lightboard and the soundboard over the years. um through fundraising um but a lot of it is just old old technology and the fact is that LED technology has far surpassed any of the things we're working on now the um the actual overall um electrical bill u will go down around 60 to 70% from that room also the heating um all of those instruments are 750 watts or more uh common LED instruments like 110 watts so you could run it for two days and touch it
056and it won't get hot um so there'll be a big cost savings there as far as all those things go on. Um and as the uh long time I was the senior class adviser u amongst other things I do around the school that the auditorium here is used not just for plays and musicals and for band concerts. We hold um you know a professional development for the entire district in that room um where all the teachers from the district are in there. We do lots of community meetings with parents and with um students. that's the main meeting spot for students. Um, and all of those things kind of get hindered because of the old antiquated lighting system we have. Often, um, if Andre or his admin team is trying to do a presentation in there,
057the lights are not set up for a presentation, uh, short of us bringing in a professional lighting designer to walk in there with a ladder and some not a ladder, a a lift and move all the lights. So, it's special special for, you know, say convocation or those kinds of things. Um so all of that stuff is just in a really really um uh long need of an upgrade. Um the community it is the number one spot that the community at large comes into without having a student um in the building because of the the plays and the musicals and the concerts. So we we would it is a it is not only again just a AMD high school space. It's not just the theater space. It's also a big community space. Um, and it's
058just been uh um left to its own device for I think uh we're we're heading on the on the long side at this point. Um we did get a sort of general overall kind of ballpark um quote from Supertech about what our um needs would be. Um, and it's uh there's a couple of different option op options and it's anywhere between $500 and $700,000 that would be uh for um the um new equipment and um some some upgrades to some different um uh sort of backstage elements. Um uh as far as uh sound and things like that, we could always use upgrades with those. Um all of that was upgraded in 2008. Um um the board of education uh gave us $30,000 to upgrade the microphones in there. Um and we've done a lot of
059upgrades um since then. Um again, I'm happy to take anyone through the infrastructure of that space. It's um really was it was uh it's a nicel lookinging space, but as far as a functional space, it's very very difficult for us to do things in there. Um, we spend between the music department and the theater department, we probably spend between 25 and $30,000 every single year to rent lights for our shows uh and for music in motion and for um the spring uh concert. So, uh all of those would be huge cost savings for us. Um I don't know if you noticed, but last year things are, you know, things have gotten more and more expensive for our productions in the last 5 years. Last year we even had to have a U fundraiser even before
060the musical began. and uh having some of that money back um for not having to rent or um buy some uh equipment would really be really be a blessing for everyone in the music department and the theater department. Uh again, I'm happy to take anyone for a tour, take you around, show you all the the things. Um even if you come to the musical, I can take you around after um and show you like what's rented and what's owned and what's uh what's what. Um I do want to thank uh Dr. buyers for having me here and I'm happy to answer any questions or uh be sent on my way whichever you like. >> Mr. Kenny, just a quick question. You were saying 25 to 30,000 in in uh lighting that you're renting each year?
061>> Yeah. >> Is that uh even with the when we make the upgrades, uh would you see that there would be any is that going to completely go away or there still going to be little things here and there that you might need to do for specialized things for >> little things? maybe a $1,000, $2,000 specialty specialty things, but it would eliminate the entire rental package that we get every every year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And and I will note that um at times our auditorium is requested for outside events. Um when people rent it, it's one of our more significant revenue generations because particularly if they are looking for sound and lighting. Um and this goes to our facilities use fees. It's a place where we can actually um uh you know we
062we have higher costs associated with that in part because we need to bring in people like Mr. Kennedy or student volunteers or our tech department to be able to run these things um the lights and the sound but also because of the space itself. So it um if an improvement in this area also helps us I guess on our revenue generating end because we are able to um make the space available for the needs of um groups that are um within our community who look to use our auditorium space. >> One quick clarifying question. The 500 to 700,000 is that just lighting or is that lighting and sound? And is or is there a separate tally for sound? >> There's nothing there for sound currently. We didn't uh we didn't add that on. We we
063currently have um that that wouldn't be a major attachment to that. My guess it would be less than $50,000 uh additional if we added >> I would I would just suggest overall as we go through these that if we're going to go through the process of bonding I think it would be helpful to put like what is the perfect wish list and then to the ex just so that we have the full picture before we have to like make decisions. >> Right. Right. And we did I did meet with Super Tech. Um they did give us a general one, but we could narrow it down like here's the wish list. Here's exactly the things we need. Um I think there needs to be a projector in there um put in that package. Um the projector
064we have is very old. Things like that. So we'll we'll uh we can we can get all that together for you. No problem. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Anybody have any more questions for Mr. Kennedy? >> All right. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. Hope to see you all at the musical. Okay. Um so that looks like it's the end of the uh presentations. Correct, Dr. Byers? >> Yes. And again, um, you know, this is all about getting information because ultimately as a committee, you're going to decide what projects you want to include in the bond pro bond process and which ones you may decide that are not um what's best for the community or not right at this given time. So, if as you like leave you have
065more questions, send them to um me and Terry and Steve. We'll make sure we get the answers for that. Um, you know, it's it's we've got a lot to cover in a few short weeks. Um, we want to make sure that you have all the information that you need to eventually make a a really good decision about what is in the bond package because of course at that point we have to start to sell it through a referendum. So, we want to be very confident in the the choices that we're making. Um and um you know I I I know that um everybody who is here tonight, we all feel passionately about the things that we want to uh improve upon, but um but we are more than happy to get more information or answer
066any concerns that you guys see coming from our community. >> Can Dr. buyers. Can I ask for one um I know in the budget packet there is that one page of kind of like I don't know if it's called the bond project or the bond I'm not going to get the terminology exactly right but is it possible to kind of have a full list and maybe whatever your or the team's kind of prioritization is just so we kind of have a sense for that as we go through this. >> Yeah. So, I mean that is we when we develop that list, we kind of put and Terry can help me out with this, but we put everything that we are possibly considering onto that. Um, we can narrow it down. I would say that the
067two most critical things are going to be roofs and HVAC. Um because out outside like like the the school buildings just aren't functional without those two items and and the other things um that we would add on whether it's library media centers or um lighting. Those are things that we clearly need. But um and and I'm and and I you know I mean you heard from the middle schools. I'm not sure and the high school. I'm not sure how much longer we can defay those costs, but um but most definitely and we're going to hear from roofs and HVAC in the next couple of meetings um so that you'll have a sense of what those are. But um but what we have put on there are the things that we truly believe that we need
068to continue to maintain the school facilities in a at a level that we think is appropriate for our students. Um, so, um, you know, I I'll defer to Miss Lumis, but I think I think the roof and the the HVAC are the most critical projects. Correct. >> I agree. >> That's helpful. Thank you. So, in speaking, just so that I can put it out there, I know that in speaking with the other members of the the committee, I I know we're going to need to do some of these in person, but anything I think that we can do virtually, uh, if there's any ones that we can do virtually, I think it definitely helps everybody with, you know, I know this time of year we're we're in meetings it seems like every day. >> Um,
069so >> any ones that we can do virtually will be in help. proposing our next meeting for March 10th, I believe. And at that point, we were going to bring forward the HVAC projects. Was that correct? >> Yes. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um so, um again, we can um if we wanted to do it virtually, um we absolutely can, um and make it work. >> If there's if it's if it's something we should be in person, let's do it in person. But if if there's ones that we can do virtually, like I feel like tonight was a was a good example of something that we could do virtually that I think in some ways I think having the screen and being able to have see my screen and and see the the blueprints there was
070probably better. Um but anything that we can do if there's things that that you that Terry I mean the two of you are working with the people that are uh going to be presenting if there's things that we can do virtually we will and if not we'll we'll do them in person. So, so just by So, our our plan was is on March 10th, we would prevent the present the HVAC projects. On March 24th, we would look at the roofing projects. Um, and then on April 7th, we would be looking at the athletic field improvements. Um, so again, all justformational items so that ultimately the group could make a a good decision. Maybe one of those we could do actually um we could do all of those virtually, but I would just set aside a
071day um Mr. Reid because you asked for a a tour of the facilities where we could go and visit the the um library media centers of the two middle schools just to kind of get a sense of layout and we could schedule that um around um maybe one of our meetings or one of our board meetings. >> Okay. Well, I don't want to sign anyone else up to it if they don't if they're not if I'll I'll send a message to the committee if there's other people that are interested and and I don't want to I don't want to uh make them endure a tour that that I'm more interested in that they than they may be. >> Um Dr. Buyers, could we think about doing the HVAC presentation in Orange and also look at
072the media center space and then that way if they want to look at the building and look at the HVAC components? I mean, certainly the HVAC in Orange with the glycol issue is kind of the more pressing issue. So, um, yeah, if we wanted to do our March 10th meeting in person in Orange, um, and that would kind of encompass sort of at least a view of what we're hoping to achieve with both of the library media centers. We could definitely do that. >> Right. Well, we'll plan uh we'll plan for that. That'll that'll work out and uh we'll go from there. >> Great. >> All right. Um does anyone have anything else they want to bring up? >> All right. Well, then without objection, uh we'll adjourn the meeting at 6:32. >> Thank you.
073>> All right. Thank you everybody. >> Thank you everybody. >> Bye. Okay.