Work on Knox High School’s vocational wing will be able to start this week, following the school board’s approval Monday. That’s according to Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart.
“The vocational wing means that we will be adding on an agricultural classroom and lab, a welding classroom and lab, and a robotics classroom and lab,” he says.
Bids came in at just over $3.87 million, according to Reichhart. While that’s far above the estimate for the original version of the project, it’s almost $173,000 under the most recent projected budget.
Reichhart says $1.5 million of that will come from money leftover from the bond for the current building project, another $1.5 million from federal ESSER II money, and the rest from ESSER III. “So there will be no impact to taxpayers whatsoever,” he adds.
The superintendent says the school board approved the transfer of almost $1.66 million from the Education Fund to the Rainy Day Fund, to allow the ESSER III money to be spent. Board members also gave their preliminary approval to contracts for earthwork, concrete, steel, plumbing, and electrical, totaling just over $1.45 million.
