CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County school board members approved a contract Wednesday for an architect to begin work on Andrew Heights Middle School.
Bastian & Harris Architects will be coming up with a design to expand the kitchen, replacing classroom pods and renovating office spaces after last month’s decision by the state School Building Authority to approve the county’s school construction plan.
“We’ve had trouble with mold and other issues and of course it’s a safety issue also to bring the children into the school,” said Charles Wilson, executive director of facilities planning for Kanawha County Schools.
Once the design is created, the state will then have to approve it before construction can begin.
“We’re trying to go with an aggressive schedule on this,” Wilson said after the board meeting. “We’d like to be doing construction this summer.”
He said the work involved would mostly likely take a year to 18 months to complete.
The SBA is providing $1.7 million for the project. About $738,000 will come from local funds.
This year’s submission to the SBA for MIP grant funding includes the construction of a new auditorium at Horace Mann Middle School. The board approved the plan Wednesday.
Wilson said not having an auditorium there has created some issues for students that need to go off site for performances.
“They have problems when it comes to band concerts, choral things and different plays, activities that happen at a middle school,” he said.
Initially, the board wanted to install new windows at Horace Mann, but SBA representatives didn’t favor the idea.
“They felt like windows are more of a maintenance type issue, but they like the auditorium part of the needs,” Wilson said.
The county would ask the SBA for $1 million and provide about $330,000 locally to fund the Horace Mann project.