Fox C-6 School District Superintendent Paul Fregeau recently announced a timeline for projects the district plans to complete with money from a $48 million bond issue that voters approved in April.
The measure was called Proposition M, which stood for “maintain our schools, modernize our safety measures and manage our resources,” and the money will be used for HVAC system and roof replacements, installation of safety and security improvements in buildings, and paying off existing leases.
“We have met a couple of times with our owner’s rep (Building Solutions), and we now have a template of a timeline for Prop M,” Fregeau said during the June 16 Board of Education meeting.
Board members approved the district’s first purchase with bond money on June 2.
The board voted 6-0 to buy a crisis alert system from Centegix for $1,058,400. Board President Todd Scott was not at the meeting.
The five-year agreement covers the cost to install the system throughout the entire district. Centegix also will service the system over the next five years.
On June 16, Fregeau said the crisis alert system is projected to be installed by the end of October.
He said Fox C-6 will begin the bidding process for two other safety and security projects either later this year or near the start of next year.
Fregeau said the district plans to seek bids to replace interior door hardware in November, and it will seek bids to install exterior door controls and monitoring systems during the winter.
He said Fox C-6 anticipates the interior and exterior door work in the summer of 2027, and those projects are expected to be completed in the summer of 2028.
“That’s the timeline for our safety and security projects,” he said.
The district said Prop M money will be used to update HVAC units and temperature controls at Clyde Hamrick and Rockport Heights elementary schools.
Fox C-6 also will replace the roof and update the HVAC unit and temperature controls at Antonia Middle School, and it will replace part of the roof and update the HVAC unit and temperature controls at Fox Middle.
The district said the bond money also will pay for partial roof replacements at Meramec Heights and Seckman elementary schools.
Fregeau said the roofing projects are planned to be done in two phases.
He said Fox C-6 will seek bids for the first phase this fall with construction slated to be done in summer 2027. He said bids for the second phase are scheduled to be sought in fall 2027 with construction taking place in summer 2028.
“Everybody is going to wonder what Phase 1 is,” Fregeau said. “We are doing an analysis to figure out if we can get nice big bid packages to see if we can get some cost savings because we are bidding all the same type of roof and the same condition. We will have more information about what those roofs are in the next couple of months.”
Fregeau said Fox C-6 also plans to do HVAC projects in phases. He said 13 agencies responded to the district’s request for qualifications for architects and engineer design services, and the district interviewed agencies on June 17.
“We will see how those interviews go,” Fregeau said. “This fall, we’ll bid for HVAC and temperature controls.”
Fregeau said Fox C-6 plans to start the first phase of HVAC replacement and temperature control upgrades in summer 2027.
He said the second phase is slated to start in summer 2028, and the final phase is expected to be done in summer 2029.
“That’s a big project,” he said. “That’s a lot of HVAC work.”
Fregeau said Fox C-6 has to complete bond projects in the next three years.
When Fox C-6 sold Prop M bonds on June 2, Stifel managing director Martin Ghafoori, whose company handled the sale of the bonds, said the district secured a true interest cost of 4.26 percent for 20 years of borrowing.
He said that means Fox C-6 will have more than $49 million in bond money to complete its projects.
“The budget is going to be well covered,” Fregeau said on June 16. “We might be able to do some other security or other things at the end of this as the money flows, but you never know what’s going to happen to costs either.”