New Engleman School: After cold winter prevented work, wet spring didn’t help

Winter weather -- not rainy weather -- is why the office and kindergarten additions to the new Engleman Elementary are lagging behind schedule.

"It froze last November and it didn't unfreeze until March," said Dan Petsch, Grand Island Public Schools coordinator of building and grounds.

That meant relatively little work could be accomplished on the new Engleman's office addition on the east side of the building and the four-classroom kindergarten addition on the school's north side.

Of course, this spring and early summer's rainy weather has made it hard to catch up on those two additions to the new Engleman, which originally was Westridge Middle School.

Water standing in the ditch on the school's east side is a silent testament to just how wet this spring and early summer have been in Grand Island.

Petsch said the original schedule called for teachers to move from the old Engleman Elementary to the new Engleman in October when there is a short break in the class schedule.

He has not formally abandoned that schedule, but he noted that it is not imperative that construction crews meet that deadline.

No matter what happens, Engleman staff and students will begin the new school year in August in the old school at Capital Avenue and Engleman Road.

If work is not completed in October, Petsch said, there are two more opportunities for teachers to move their school textbooks and other supplies from the old Engleman to the new Engleman.

One is over the Thanksgiving break and the other is Christmas break, Petsch said. The lengthier Christmas break may be easiest on teachers when it comes to making the transfer.

On Monday, some workers were doing the exterior brick work on the portion of the new Engleman that will serve as the new school offices.

The concrete floor has been poured in the office area. Petsch noted that the office area still has a lot of the mechanical systems to be installed.

The exterior brick work for the four kindergarten classrooms is complete, but Petsch said that addition is farther behind schedule than the office addition.

Construction workers are putting on the roof for the kindergarten classrooms, but once again, a lot of mechanical system work needs to be done in that area. Floors in the kindergarten classrooms are still dirt instead of concrete.

While the additions are lagging behind schedule, the majority of the project is comprised of renovating the old Westridge Middle School into the new Engleman. That work is right on schedule

And while completing the project in a reasonable amount of time is important, Petsch said, the most important thing is that the new Engleman will represent an upgrade over the existing Engleman.

He said the renovation consists of keeping some portions of the old Westridge relatively intact, but making much bigger changes in other parts of the building as it becomes a K-5 grade school.

The vocal music, instrumental music, gymnasium, library/media center and computer labs will all remain in the same location, Petsch said. But that does not mean those areas are unchanged.

He said the media center, for example, is getting new lights, which will be much more energy efficient and will also provide a better light quality.

In some parts of the building, more energy-efficient windows have been installed, replacing older, wood-frame windows, Petsch said. In another part of the building, windows were left in place.

"They were 11 years old," he explained.

In an older part of the building, workers took off the interior wall covering and discovered insulation that was very thin, said Petsch, who noted that resulted in a change order that added both thicker insulation and a greater cost to the project.

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict insulation thickness until construction crews tear into a wall.

Despite such change orders, Petsch said, he believes the new Engleman project will be completed at a cost that is within 1 percent of the original bid.

Because the new school is an elementary school instead of a middle school, all classrooms will be equipped with sinks for student use, Petsch said. The four kindergarten classrooms will not only have sinks, but student bathrooms as well.

Petsch said each classroom will have one wall with an "accent" color, which is more typical of a grade school than a middle school. The new Engleman also will have more bulletin board space than the old middle school.

The most important classroom change, though, will be in square footage. The old Engleman had 600 square-foot classrooms. The new Engleman will have a couple of 900 square-foot classrooms, with the majority of classrooms being 930 square feet.

"That's a big difference," Petsch said.

That's also one of the main reasons for converting the old Westridge into the new Engleman.

The other reason is for expanded enrollment capacity.

Petsch said the new Engleman will be a three-unit school, which means it will have three classrooms per grade. However, the new building will have four kindergartens.

The cafeteria also has been expanded to accommodate a four-unit school. As a result, Engleman could accommodate a grade 1-5 classroom addition if that ever becomes necessary.