3 days ago
Baugo Community Schools gets a facelift
ELKHART — Baugo Community Schools is improving its campus with various construction projects all a part of the 2024 Bond projects plan which will change the experience and look of its campus.
Byron Sanders, superintendent of Baugo Community Schools, said 23 projects in total are being worked on over a span of two years. The construction is eight months in. The total cost of all 23 projects is about $25 million.
'They come out of two different pots of money,' Sanders said. 'So we had secured a bond in November 2024 that is overseeing this scale of projects. There are 23 projects in that plan. The board worked on that project for I'd say more than two years.'
The biggest project is the improvement of traffic flow on C.R. 3. There has been an increased traffic flow because more parents are choosing to drive their children to and from school, Sanders said. The school district is trying to alleviate the congestion on C.R. 3, he said.
The construction will be creating a traffic lane for the Jimtown Intermediate School building. The school district will also be redistributing the Jimtown Elementary School's pick up and drop off in order to alleviate the traffic on C.R. 3 as much as possible.
The primary entrance to Jimtown's campus will be moved to the intersection of C.R. 3 and C.R. 24 to improve traffic flow on campus. An additional parking lot will also be added which will be used by the band to practice, Sanders said.
'So we're trying to increase parking and maintain continuity of programming,' Sanders said of the new parking lot.
There are also interior improvements being made at Jimtown High School, including an improved weight room and locker room spaces. Air conditioning will also be added to the competition gym, Sanders said. By adding the performing arts wing, it lent itself to reconfiguring the HVAC system and finally being able to provide air conditioning to the competition gym, he said.
The completion of all of the projects will be done approximately in 2026. Sanders said construction crews will need both this summer and next summer to finalize the projects.
'We anticipated debt capacity increasing, and so we knew it was our opportunity to make some improvements to campus,' Sanders said. 'We worked with stakeholders to make sure we identified projects that made most sense for the campus that we would get the best benefit from, and so we had to determine where is the greatest need.'
The school district is proud it is making the most of the taxpayer dollars and making improvements that will last a long time, Sanders said.
One of the benefits of putting new asphalt down is that it cleans the place up, Sanders said. Once all the projects are completed, it will completely change the way traffic moves on campus and the district should see more controlled movement of traffic on campus, he said.
'I don't think that's a unique issue for Baugo Community Schools,' Sanders said. 'I think if you go to any campus at the beginning and the end of the day, you'll see congestion, but it seems heightened over the last few years and this is the opportunity to make those improvements.'
Sanders said it is important to him as a superintendent to make sure the campus is accessible and nice. While the school district is smaller with less resources, Sanders said it is important the district makes the most of the facilities with the dollars that it has.
Weigand Construction is the construction management company coordinating all of the movement and scheduling of all of the projects going on at once, according to Sanders.
'Obviously, we're in summer session now, so there is some summer school on campus, but it's small and so the amount of construction on campus right now is much more significant than it is during the school day and during the school year,' Sanders said. 'They're going to try to get as much done this summer as possible and then, they'll have to pair that down a little bit during the school year.'
Other projects included in the 2024 bond projects plan include improved offices at the Jimtown Junior High and Elementary schools. A cafeteria and auditorium will also be improved in the junior high. A new chiller will be put in the intermediate school.
A new press box will also be added to the softball field and the track will also be improved.
'There will be a little chaos between now and 2026,' Sanders said.
