T-R PHOTO BY NICK BAUR Marshalltown School Board members Zach Wahl, Bonnie Lowry and Jan McGinnis, and Director of Business Operations Randy Denham review the architect agreement for a possible MHS CTE project at Monday’s regular meeting of the School Board.

A slew of improvements to the Marshalltown High School building could begin as soon as next summer as the MCSD School Board voted unanimously Monday to approve a preliminary architect agreement with FEH Design of Dubuque for Career and Technical Education (CTE) classroom additions and renovations.

An architect agreement is a legal document that specifies the terms and conditions of a structure’s design or construction and contains the scope of work, fees and payment schedule, timeline, and responsibilities of both parties. It is often the earliest precursor to any future project but does not guarantee that it will actually take shape.

The agreement came before the board as a recommendation from Superintendent Theron Schutte, and on Monday, he reported a need to upgrade and add to the CTE spaces currently available at the high school.

“All of those spaces… are more similar than different to when they were either originally created when the building was created in the 60s, or through the renovation that had taken place over time, and it’s all relatively antiquated, quite honestly,” Schutte said.

Examples of school subjects that fall under the umbrella of CTE include family and consumer science, industrial arts, agriculture, and several different scientific disciplines. As Schutte explained, Kevin Eipperle, architect at FEH Design, met with high school CTE faculty and administration last spring to evaluate the current spaces in order to conceptualize an early design and preliminary cost estimate for any additions or renovations.

Eipperle has previously worked with the district on projects at the Roundhouse and Athletic Complex.

“He developed some very, very preliminary designs and cost estimates, particularly just so that we had an idea when the time came to address this what we would be looking at and so this agreement would be to do further work in this regard to create more specific designs and cost estimates,” Schutte said.

These early designs involve constructing a tall, east addition that will support a vertical vehicle lift bay and a building trades construction shop and infilling the courtyard on the main level and partially on the upper level, along with adding a commercial culinary arts lab, a pantry, a new science lab and support spaces.

A two-story agriculture lab with vertical greenhouse technology would also be included in the project with the upper level being an outdoor garden or planting space and an upper greenhouse.

Renovation work would include upgrading four science labs, the wood shop, the metal and welding shop, the small engines space, and the family and consumer sciences residential kitchen lab.

Schutte added that the district had also been in contact with a list of community members with vested interests in any potential project and that the agreement would serve as a fact finding endeavor should the district choose to undertake the project in the future.

“We’ve invited other business people to provide the input on what those current thoughts are based on the input that’s been shared predominantly by teachers so that we also engage the local business community as to those ideas and see if there’s anything else that we’re missing there as well to try to further enhance those designs moving forward,” Schutte said. “This would be strictly to further development of the design and the preliminary cost estimates so that if we so chose, we would be in a position to go out next year for bid on projects.”

Coming on the heels of the recent Athletic Complex Project at the Marshalltown High School, which broke ground last month, board member Bonnie Lowry pointed out that the district does have its hands full when it came to facilities improvements, but the agreement would help provide some clarity for the board to prioritize projects accordingly.

“It’s not an approval of moving forward to implement change or renovation, and so I think from a facility standpoint, there’s a lot on the plate right now in this district for our facilities and things will need to be prioritized,” Lowry said. “I think we need to have a firm understanding about what it would look like at the end and what kind of dollars we’re really talking about, so that we can start to prioritize some of those things…. As long as this is just to go out and see what could be and bring us back ideas and there’s no commitment in dollars or purchase or build, I think that we need to cover that ground before we can make any decisions.”

The total estimated cost for the potential CTE project currently sits at $8,842,726, and according to the timeline included in the architect agreement, the project would begin construction in May 2024 should it be formally approved at a later date.

In other business, the board:

Heard a presentation from Franklin Elementary about ongoing social and emotional learning at the school;

Approved an agreement with “Code to the Future” for curriculum support at Lenihan intermediate School;

Officially approved the 2023-2024 district employee and student handbooks;

Approved an RFP for Acer Chromebooks as part of the annual replacement procedure;

Moved the May 15 board meeting to May 16.

Approved the purchase of an interactive touch screen television for the Orpheum Theatre for $13,495 paid with a combination of Martha-Ellen Tye discretionary funds and Alliant Energy donations.

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Contact Nick Baur at 641-753-6611 or nbaur@timesrepublican.com.