What's all this mean? Well, time will tell, but when asked, the committee said it means that, pending full board approval on Sept. 8 (7 PM at BHS) and no serious code inspection hurdles, BSD will begin designing Phase 1 immediately and put it out to bid in January 2010... in four or five months! Construction will start the last day of this new school year and be completed by this time next year... in time for the 2010-2011 school year... WOW!
This is an incredible accomplishment for our school leadership and the many, many local advocates. Of course, we're not at the finish line yet... that will be the ribbon cutting ceremony on the new elevator one year from now. And then folks will need to tackle remaining Burlington school accessibility challenges... of which there are many... but none as daunting as this first one! Thanks to all involved in this pending success.
So please attend the Sept. 8 full school board meeting at 7 PM at Burlington High School.
Here's Fox 44 News' take...
Burlington Looks To Make Middle School Handicap AccessibleAnd here's the more detailed video version from Fox 44 News...
Posted: Sep 1, 2009 10:19 PM
At the Burlington School District finance meeting Tuesday night education leaders recommended using the remaining $1.25 million in last year's capitol bond to jump start renovations on Edmunds Middle School.
Right now the only way for a student to enter the Edmunds Middle School is by using stairs which can be a challenge or even impossible for students with disabilities.
The first phase is to put in an elevator that would go from the basement to the 5th floor.
"We do have approval from the department of education to use federal stimulus money for a portion of the elevator," Burlington Superintendent Jeanne Collins said.
Phase two through five would add an elevator in the elementary school and ramps around the middle school. Collins says they hope to install the elevator next summer at Edmunds Middle School.
No comments:
Post a Comment