Middle School wrapping up

The Norwood Middle School Building Committee (MSBC) met on Dec. 8 and discussed some of the final preparations being made to closeout the project.

Two big takeaways: one, the project is still under budget.

“We are still tracking a little over $11 million under budget at this time,” said Vertex Project Manager Luke Apone.

Apone added that everything is going to plan with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) and the group’s reimbursement scheme for part of the school’s construction, similar to the MSBA’s first project in the state, the Norwood High School. For more information on that reimbursement process, go to https://www.massschoolbuildings.org

“To date, about $88 million in eligible costs have been submitted, with the MSBA reimbursing just over $44 million,” he said.

The second point is that the MSBC is looking at possibly making January the last month it will meet. School Committee Chair David Hiltz started the discussion when asking to confirm meeting dates.

“One of the things I want to talk about is whether there is a need to continue to do monthly meetings,” said MSBC Chair Alan Slater. “And if we don’t, what contingencies do we need to make sure people get paid and so forth.”

Slater and Hiltz agreed to hash it out at the next meeting on Jan. 12.

“I know this conversation would rollover into the other, but I want to also talk about legal requirements as to what’s leftover from the project,” Hiltz said, referring to the budget surplus. “Speaking from the School Committee, we had talked about that with interest.”

“You could, but then again what to do with the money leftover isn’t necessarily a decision of this body has to reach, I think it’s more a matter of the School Committee discussing it with the Board of Selectmen and, ultimately, Town Meeting as the judge that has to make the call,” Slater said.

Also discussed and voted on was a request from Vertex to decide on a mobile or permanent padding system to decrease the chance of injury for players in the football field. Each had benefits, as Apone said the mobile barrier could be moved to provide a barrier and allow soccer to be played on the perpendicular field at the same time as football.

The downside to this option is that moving the walls is tricky.

“It’s not easy; they are very heavy,” Apone said. “It is expensive to move those.”

The other downside for the mobile units is that they are much more expensive. Norwood Public Schools (NPS) Superintendent Timothy Luff said he would want something permanent, as he’s seen what students can do to temporary equipment.

“You’re in a school setting with kids, and the more stuff that you have like this, like sandbags for instance,” he said. “They used to sandbag soccer nets and the kids would just tear them apart.”

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The MSBC unanimously voted for the permanent barriers.

Apone also went into the future work left to do on the school.

“Some of these things will shift based on material availability; if we can get some things in sooner, we will obviously do that, but this is just how the work lines up right now,” he said.

The items scheduled for this week and next included training the staff on the scoreboard and the solar installations, an additional auditorium plaque, installation of a maintenance bollard, installation of equipment at the half-court outdoor play area, installation of athletic netting, work on the concession stand exterior, lighting, an electrified door strike, and fiber communications box terminations.

For December vacation, the work includes leveling the epoxy in several of the bathrooms, installing window film, floor leveling in Room 350, and installation of blinds at the office doors on the first floor.

During February vacation, they are looking to add speakers to room 270, 104A and 103A. This is also when Apone said he expects contractor W.T. Rich to install the wall pads discussed above. April vacation will be loam and seeding, as well as painting numbers for parking spaces. Summer break includes putting in more locks, screen and recoating the gym floor and work on the half-court outdoor play area.

The project closeout is then scheduled, which includes a final audit submission to the MSBA and final landscaping.