Northwest R-1’s Woodridge Middle School soon will get “a whole new facelift,” said Geoff Macy, the district’s chief operating officer.
The Northwest Board of Education recently approved $615,765 in contracts for renovations to the Woodridge kitchen and cafeteria.
The improvements will include replacing the floor, installing new windows, moving the HVAC units to the roof, changing the layout of the lunch line, moving the freezer inside the kitchen and painting the walls.
Macy said the renovations will be covered with capital improvement funds.
He said the renovations will start as soon as school is out for the year.
“We’re going to have an aggressive timeline to get it finished because we need it ready to go when students return in the fall,” he said.
Macy said the improvements previously were slated to be completed last summer, but because of COVID-19 concerns, the project was delayed.
The school board voted March 18 to award a $326,168 contract to Lexicon Construction in Webster Groves for most of the renovations. The board also approved a $90,000 budget for furniture and equipment for the kitchen and cafeteria. Also at the March meeting, the board awarded Environmental Resources Inc. in Alton, Ill., a $32,700 contract to remove asbestos flooring in the kitchen and cafeteria area.
On April 15, the board awarded a $166,897 contract to Integrated Facility Services in Fenton for HVAC work in the cafeteria and kitchen.
“What’s crucial about the HVAC is that we’re going to use rooftop units so we can reduce the amount of ductwork in there,” Macy said.
He said eliminating some of the duct-work will open up space to put windows inside the cafeteria.
Macy said until a new gym was built before the start of this school year, the cafeteria at Woodridge doubled as the gymnasium.
Macy said a new gym was paid for with funds from a $14.5 million bond project voters approved in 2018.
“Prior to the completion of the Woodridge gymnasium, students would actually have breakfast, we would clean it up, break down the tables, and then they would have PE class. Then we would have to halt PE class, put everything back out for lunch and it was just a challenging transition for everybody,” he said.
Also at the March meeting, the board awarded Lexicon Construction a $145,835 contract to replace windows in other parts of the school.