A wall of windows soon will be replaced in the Valley Middle School Cafeteria, 4300 Gravois Road, in House Springs.
The Northwest R-1 Board of Education voted 6-0 Sept. 15 to award a $140,000 contract to Lexicon Construction in Webster Groves to replace the wall, which includes seven windows. Board vice president Retta “Susan” Tuggle was absent from the meeting.
Chief operating officer Mark Janiesch said Lexicon Construction submitted the only bid for the project, which will be paid for with district capital improvement funds.
The new wall and windows are expected to be complete by Nov. 1, but as of Monday, Oct. 3, construction had not started, so the project could take longer, Janiesch said.
He said the school was built in 1954 and the cafeteria was built in 1962, adding that the wall and windows were not made with the best materials.
Janiesch said the windows are single pane and the wall is made of steel sheeting.
“It’s not very energy efficient at all, and it’s causing the vents in the ceiling to get moisture in them,” he said. “(The wall) has rust at the bottom and water actually leaks through the wall, causing kind of a hazard there for slips.”
Janiesch said the rest of the cafeteria is made of bricks and cinder blocks, and the new wall will be made of brick and stucco.
The seven windows will be replaced with Kalwall windows, he added.
“They will be energy efficient, but they are translucent in a way so full daylight comes through, but you can’t see through them kind of for safety issues,” he said. “We do not need anybody looking in on the children in there for any reason.”
Janiesch said the wall has been an issue for the past three years.
“It’s a very bizarre wall in there,” he said. “It’s almost one whole side that faces the field.”
As of Sept. 30, construction had not started, Janiesch said.
He said construction will start once the district has received permits from Jefferson County. Janiesch said Monday he hoped to receive the permits in the next two weeks.
“(Construction workers) will end up building a false wall for the safety of the students while they work on the real wall,” he said.