Leonardtown MS renovation plans to be reviewed

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

The St. Mary's County Board of Education approved construction documents Tuesday for the Leonardtown Middle School renovation project, to be bid in January and start later next spring.

"The design team did an excellent job in expediting these plans," said Larry Hartwick, supervisor of school design and construction.

The documents that will be sent to the state for review include some 277 drawings by the firm Wheeler Goodman Masek.

A second cost estimate was completed by an independent cost estimator and is consistent with the original cost estimate. The base bid is projected to be below the project budget, Hartwick said.

The state has approved $17 million for the project.

There will be a school improvement team meeting to discuss the plans tomorrow, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. at the supporting services conference room behind Banneker Elementary School in Loveville. Representatives from the elementary schools that feed into Leonardtown Middle are invited to participate, Leonardtown Middle Principal Lisa Bachner said.

Bachner said that parents are most concerned about where their children will be during the renovation. At this point, she said, it is likely that next year's sixth-graders will be in the annex of portable classrooms located behind Benjamin Banneker Elementary School.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students will remain at Leonardtown Middle during renovations and moved within the building as necessary to accomplish the work.

"I think it's been very well received" by parents thus far, Bachner said.

The renovation will occur throughout the school, including some exterior improvements and doing away with the pod classroom design. The gymnasium, cafeteria, media center, courtyard, entranceway and other areas of the school will all be redone.

"Thank you for going the extra mile of getting rid of the pod system," board member Mary Washington said. She said to leave remnants of the pod system, with multiple classes in one area without walls, after such a large dollar renovation project would have been unacceptable to the school board.

The project will be done in phases and should be wrapped up by the end of 2011.

jyeatman@somdnews.com