The Knox Community School Board has been meeting with members of a committee and the community about the possible construction project of the Palmer Wing of the Elementary School. The Palmer Wing is nearing 60 years in age and is in need of upgrades and repairs.
In a past meeting, it was decided that three options were available: Do nothing and leave it as it is, renovate the Palmer Wing, or demolish it and construct a new wing. The committee members acknowledged that something needs to be done. Superintendent, A.J. Gappa said that the project discussion went a step further Monday night.
“We had members of the Barton Coe Vilamaa architect firm from Fort Wayne here and they have done a facility study on the Elementary School and they gave that report to the Board,” said Gappa. “They pointed out many things that don’t meet up to current day standards that were okay when they built the building, but of course, many things have changed.”
Mr. Gappa pointed out what upgrades are needed.
“We need updates in all areas including electrical and plumbing. We don’t have hot water in this building because the pipes are so corroded the water can’t get through. There appear to be some areas of the roof that may have some small leaks that need to be addressed, the north side of the building has collected moisture and there may be some type of mold on the outside of the building that needs to be addressed. There are many things.”
Now that a facility study has been done, Mr. Gappa was asked what the next step is concerning the Palmer Wing.
“Where we go from there, that’s up to the Board. We’ll be having meetings with the community, inviting some of those people back who have been here before and having new people come in and see exactly what we’re talking about in the this building. The architects, at this point, have not made a recommendation. In the future, we may ask them to come back and start to put some costs together to correct some things or maybe what it would cost to replace some of the items.”
