By Jef Rietsma
Vicksburg Community Schools’ students returned to classes Aug. 26. They may have noticed the inside of their school building didn’t look like it did in June.
Over the past two summers, the district has seen $9.8 million worth of improvements, all thanks to a $41.7 million bond request approved by voters in 2020.
Superintendent Keevin O’Neill said Series 3 of the work was covered during the 2023 and 2024 summer breaks. During the board’s Aug. 12 meeting, Assistant Superintendent Steve Goss provided an overview of this summer’s work.
He started his presentation focusing on Indian Lake and Tobey elementary schools.
“We had a significant amount of flooring replacement in both classrooms and corridors. We had significant bathroom renovations and a lot of painting,” Goss said. “Those (two) buildings were essentially closed, fully shut down over the summer.”
Indian Lake’s gymnasium features new flooring, Goss noted.
Goss turned his attention to Sunset Lake Elementary, where construction was done a bit more strategically because it hosted the district’s elementary summer programming.
He said the school was partitioned and work was done in sections, providing as little disruption as possible.
“Then there was a certain amount of flooring replacement – particularly in the cafeteria, art room and (attached) storage room,” Goss said. “Several years ago, we replaced the classroom floors and the section that we used for programming this summer, those floors and those bathrooms are on the docket for next year.”
The bathroom in the upper elementary area of the school was also redone, a step that Goss said “was well overdue … but it (now) looks amazing.” He noted they include new partitions, ceilings, floors, lights and floor-to-ceiling tile.
Classroom flooring is a woodgrain vinyl tile that Goss said looks good and has performed well at other locations.
Moving on to the secondary level, Goss said Vicksburg’s middle school and high school received “a significant amount of mechanical upgrades. Replacement ceiling tiles and new lighting, as well as a new coat of paint, will be noticeable improvements from last school year, he said.
One middle school upgrade Goss noted centered on a few rooms that previously featured partitions separating the classrooms.
“It didn’t make sense to keep those and some of them had significant mechanical problems, so those have been replaced with solid, permanent walls,” he said. “They turned out great.”
Goss said more than 270 pieces of plywood were laid on the middle school’s gym floor while it underwent installation of new lighting, ceiling tiles and a paint job.
At the high school, Goss said one component of the work this summer resulted in new paint, lighting and a ceiling replacement in its cafeteria. Also, roof replacement took place over the high school’s 400 wing.
Goss said even though mechanical work is essential to a school’s infrastructure, it is by no means glamorous.
“A lot of the mechanical work is not really visible; a lot of it is above the ceilings and in the vents,” he said. “But the things that are more noticeable, of course, are the ceilings, the lights and those types of things.”
Goss concluded his report with a look at the timeframe within what construction crews had to work.
“From the last day of school to the first day of school, there are 79 days. If you factor out weekends and holidays, you’re down to 53 work days,” he said. “We really have a phenomenal construction team. That’s a credit to TowerPinkster as well as Frederick Construction. We’ve got a great group of contractors.”
O’Neill and Goss said another round of upgrades will take place next summer, with more new flooring and many other improvements on the way. Meanwhile, O’Neill expressed gratitude to the district’s voters for their endorsement of that 2020 request.
