Building Program Information
Building Program Goals
In November 2008, voters in Lexington-Richland Five approved a bond referendum, which will allow the school district to borrow money to renovate seven schools and construct three new schools. The district will now begin to move forward with our building program and meet the expectations of the school board and our public. To that end we will immediately begin to do the following:
- All facilities planning will have student and staff safety as our number one priority.
- Develop a schedule that will allow all projects to be completed on time.
- Develop a budget that will allow all projects to be completed under budget.
- Communicate to the public, our staff, architects and engineers that all projects must be designed and built within our approved budget. This may very well mean that some things that would be nice to have, but are not essential, will not be included. We will never take the position that since there is money left, we must spend it.
- Be transparent in all of our activities, reporting to the board and community on a regular basis, using every appropriate communications tool available.
- Work to continue to build public trust that School District Five can, and will, deliver on what was promised and approved on Election Day.
- And address facility needs and prepare long-range plans in a way that will make it clear to our community what our needs will be in the years ahead, in preparation for future referendums.
Six Step Timeline for Building Program
- Development Stage: After several years of gathering input from our community, and studying our facility needs, the school board voted unanimously to move forward with a bond referendum to address those needs.
- Information Stage: An information campaign was developed to educate the community on the need for the bond referendum, and its approval. The campaign was implemented over three intense months, culminating in an election, and community approval, on November 4, 2008.
- Scheduling Phase: Short term scheduling will take place during the months of November and December and will include the development of general timelines for all of the projects, along with a master schedule. Longer term scheduling should be finished by the end of January and will include detailed plans for each of the ten projects.
- Design and Bidding Phase: During this phase the final plans will be approved for each project, projects will be put out for bid and the school board will give final approval to the successful bidders. This will be the point where we will move from estimates to actual cost for each project.
- Construction Phase: Once construction begins on the various projects it will take from 12 to 30 months, depending on the project, before all construction is complete.
- Final Phase: Each of the projects will be closed out and completed, including furnishing the buildings and landscaping.