GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Central plans to upgrade parts of each of the district’s eight buildings over the next few years using bond funding.
The Greenfield-Central School Board met recently to discuss potential projects with Performance Services, an Indianapolis-based consultant. Superintendent Harold Olin said the projects include upgrading the Weston Elementary School entry; expanding building space for Greenfield-Central High School’s fine arts program; and updating mechanical systems in most school buildings.
Over the past six months, the district’s administrative team conducted a facilities audit of each building with the assistance of engineer and architecture consultants from Performance Services, Olin said. The school board is prioritizing those facility needs and deciding which to include in a bond.
At the top of the corporation’s list of projects, Olin said, is improving school security. Weston Elementary is the only building in the district without a secured entry, meaning visitors don’t directly walk into an enclosed space or the offices, Olin said. That’s different than the other seven G-C buildings, he added.
Olin said officials also plan to upgrade Greenfield Central Junior High School’s security cameras to a high-definition system that feeds into the Hancock County 911 Center as well as the Greenfield Police Department and Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, similar to the high school’s security system.
The facilities study also identified deficiencies at the high school for fine arts, Olin said. The school’s music program has grown over the past few years, he said; the high school added a strings program, three new jazz band classes, music theory courses and split up parts of the concert band. That’s caused the school to offer 12 different music classes that meet each day of the week over eight daily blocks.
Some classes overflow into the gymnasium or onto the auditorium stage, Olin said.
“It can work short term, but not when you have productions going on or when you have P.E. classes,” he said. “It’s been a good problem for us to have.”
Some options the board discussed to expand fine arts space include taking over locker rooms and weight rooms that are adjacent to the music area, Olin said, which would lead to a new athletic area.
Other potential projects include new building roofs, chillers, pumps, HVAC control systems and various mechanical upgrades that will improve energy efficiency, Olin said.
“If you’re not staying ahead of that kind of routine maintenance, it can become very uncomfortable,” he said.
Greenfield-Central last had a large construction project from 2008 to 2010, when the corporation spent $72 million on building renovations, including $30 million at the high school. Olin said the district has issued two $2 million bonds and spent money from its capital projects fund in the past nine years.
“We’ve grown since 2010, not in the terms of our students, but we’ve grown our staff and our programs, so we have new needs for space,” Olin said.
The corporation’s total debt service has also dropped over the past five years, from $11 million to about $9 million in 2019, Olin said. The general obligation bond the board would pursue for the next round of projects would replace past bonds and keep the district debt neutral, he said.
“We can move forward with some projects without putting any additional burden on taxpayers,” he said.
Olin said he can’t put a price on the upgrades since the board is still determining projects and will soon put together a finance team for the bond. He said costs will, however, remain lower than $15 million, which is the amount the state allows schools corporations to bond without it leading to a remonstrance. Olin said the district hopes to issue the bond and start construction by fall or late summer.
“We’re not going to rush it,” he added. “We’re going to make sure that we’re doing the right things that give us the most impact for the dollars. Doing it right is more important than doing it quickly.”
