Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Renovation Work Nearing Completion In Prescott District

Renovation work in the Prescott School District is nearly finished, in many areas.

Superintendent Ron Wright said, during the annual report to the public Tuesday, Sept. 19, the district is "pretty far along" on what it promised the people when they passed a millage increase for construction and renovation last year at this time.

Ceilings have been lowered at the Prescott Elementary School, with new lighting installed. This, Wright said, has made a big difference in the classrooms with the unexpected improvement of sound quality.

The better lighting saves the district money, he said, and the lowering of ceilings reduced the total square footage of the rooms and has helped make them more energy efficient.

In addition, he said, they look better.

Most of this type of work was done in two wings at PES and in the seventh and eighth grade building at McRae Middle School.

Wright is most pleased with the improvement at the MMS gymnasium. The lobby area, he said, is done, and goals should be installed at any time.

Ceilings are being lowered in the dressing room and weight room, with some plumbing left to be done.

Wright said the Prescott School Board will hold its October meeting in the MMS gym so the board can tour the facility and see the changes.

The gym floors won't be done by the time the board is scheduled to meet on Oct. 17, so Wright has moved the meeting back a week to Oct. 24.

This, though, isn't all the work to be done on the gym. In the spring, he said, the front of the building will be retrofit, with the entire facility painted to look like a single structure.

The McRae Alumni Association, Wright said, has purchased a scoreboard and clock for the gym. Trophy cases will be installed in the lobby filled with memorabilia about Gov. Thomas McRae.

While the district has had several roofing jobs done to its buildings, there is roofing work yet to be done. Wright said the current gym at Prescott High School needs some work on its roof, but the problem there is it has two different surfaces.

Part of this roof is pitched, while the other section is flat. "It's probably the worst shaped roof in the district," Wright said, adding it could cost more to repair it than expected.

Wright talked to a roofer about the gym and was told the top layer may have to be removed.

The other roofing job is with the art/science building with the overhang. Wright said there's a leak in the overhang and it needs to be repaired before it gets worse.

From there, roofing work would be on the fifth and sixth grade building at MMS, with a shingle roof put on the library at PES.

Work is being done on the old student lounge to develop classrooms and a science lab there.

After this, Wright said, the focus will be on upgrading the restrooms at MMS and PES, which would conclude the renovation projects.

Bids, he said, were taken on the new gym and all were higher than wanted. The architects are reworking the plans to make sure the structure comes in on budget. The changes won't affect the gym's functionality.

Foundation work could begin at any time on the gym, with drilling for the piers.

Turning to the budget for 2000-2001, Wright said changes were made in the budget format as the state's new system had no place for the board to sign off on. To allow the board to sign off on the budget, a recap sheet was made.

The district will have a budget of $6.5 million to run the school, with the funds on hand and the anticipated revenue.

Wright said he was conservative in planning on anticipated revenue and liberal on expected expenses. In so doing, the budget shows a $169,000 deficit.

Historically, he said, the district does better on anticipated revenue than was planned for in this budget and there will be no deficit at the end of the year.

Teacher's salaries make up most of the budget with about $3 million going to pay instructors. From there, the operating fund is about $2.4 million.

"The majority of our expenses are predetermined," Wright said. "I expect to have an ending balance of around $1.2 million."