By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
November 30, 2011

Fifty-five million dollars. That’s how much the Kansas City Public Schools has allotted for its Project 360 to refurbish school buildings.

KCPS Board of Education recently approved the $55 million allocation from its Capital Projects Fund and approved a contract with HMM Construction Services to execute the building refurbishments and serve as program manager.

One reason for the hefty price tag is years of deferred maintenance.

According to a board of education document on the district’s website, “The district has experienced several decades of deferred maintenance leading to a serious degradation of the physical learning environment in most district schools… these issues have a negative impact on the learning environment.”

“Deferred maintenance is a challenge faced by virtually every school district in the country,” KCPS Chief Operating Officer Michael Rounds said. “The required routine maintenance on buildings is almost always greater than the amount of funds available in the budget. Because of the discrepancy, districts are forced to prioritize spending and much of the routine maintenance requirements are delayed or cancelled.”

For the last 15 years, district funding has failed to keep pace with the cost of maintenance requirements, he said.

“We are trying to turn around the most significant impacts of our deferred maintenance with Project 360,” Rounds said.

Project 360’s goal is to meet nationally established standards for room temperatures, lighting and air quality. The project is based on a three-tiered system with the most dire projects in Tier I.

A “key feature” of the project includes installing central air conditioning at East High School, Northeast High School and James Elementary, all in Historic Northeast. During the past summer, the schools ended classes at noon several times due to the heat. Installation of central air conditioning in NEHS and EHS is scheduled to be completed before Aug. 13, 2012. Other schools listed in Tier I include Banneker Elementary, Melcher Elementary, Troost Elementary and Whittier Elementary. Tier I projects will be completed within 18 months and construction across all tiers is scheduled to be completed by August of 2014. Physical issues will be individually addressed at each school and work will be “executed on a pay as we proceed approach.”

Cost breakdown

Building refurbishments will include several areas: heating and cooling systems, roofs, window upgrades, lighting and electrical upgrades and interior upgrades, among several other projects.

Installation of a central air conditioning system will cost an estimated $6.5 million at EHS, $5.9 million at NEHS and $1.8 million at James Elementary. Upgrading the lighting and electrical systems at NEHS and EHS will cost the district nearly $3 million. Window upgrades, like replacing outdated windows with energy efficient ones, will cost an estimated $1.9 million at NEHS, the most of any school. Although window upgrades are expensive, the district will eventually recoup the cost in energy savings, Rounds said.

The total estimated refurbishment costs for schools in Historic Northeast are EHS, $8.5 million; NEHS, $10 million; James Elementary, $2.5 million; Whittier Elementary, $2.8 million; Garfield Elementary, $2.9 million; Gladstone Elementary, $740,000; Lincoln Prep, $3 million.