When Northwest R-1’s Brennan Woods Elementary students return to school next fall, the kitchen will have a different look.
The school board voted 5-0 April 14 to award a $195,885 contract to Lexicon Construction in Webster Groves to remodel the kitchen at the elementary school in High Ridge.
Kim Hawk, the district’s chief operating officer, said the remodel will include new flooring and changing the layout of the kitchen to provide more working space for workers.
She said the remodel will start after the last day of this school year, which is May 24, and is scheduled to be finished by August 1.
Right now, students enter the kitchen to get into the serving line. Hawk said the remodel will move the student serving line out of the kitchen and into the cafeteria.
“We are going to increase the amount of space inside the kitchen for the cooks to be able to work and also make it so the kids aren’t just kind of squeezing through that small area,” she said.
“It will make lunchtime more efficient for the cooks and for the kids.”
Hawk said the district will cover the cost of the remodel with money from its capital improvement fund as well as from funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food service program.
She said the district has more students who participate in the free or reduced lunch program since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic so the USDA food service funding has increased.
Hawk said the district received two bids for the project, but Lexicon Construction was the only company to complete the mandatory pre-bid walk through.
“The main thing is we want to make sure that if somebody is going to give us a bid they actually look at the project, not just shoot a number out there,” she said.
She said she felt comfortable with Lexicon Construction because the district has worked with the company on several other projects.
Hawk said the school will not be open for summer school because of the construction.
Brennan Woods students will attend summer school at either Murphy Elementary or High Ridge Elementary schools.