Concept drawing of Milford Middle School renovations
Dr. Kevin Dickerson, Superintendent, announced at a recent Board of Education meeting that an updated design for the Milford Middle School would be presented at the May board meeting. In addition, updated costs will also be presented.
“The May agenda will also include our strategic plan so we hope to have a good conversation about that as well,” Dr. Dickerson said. “That evening, we will also have information on our preliminary tax rate to be presented to the board. We’ll also talk about a community eligibility program status here with all six of our schools, so it will be a very important meeting with lots of major items on next month’s agenda.”
Milford School District held several public meetings regarding what the new school will look like after demolition of the newer wings of the school. The main historic portion of the building, constructed in 1929 will remain. TetraTech, who performed a thorough review of the building in 2019, found that the 1929 portion of the building was salvageable although it would need extensive environmental remediation.
“We are about a quarter of the way through the timeline,” Dr. Sara Croce, Chief Financial Officer, said at one of the public meetings. “At the end of January, we hope to have Milford School Board approval of the schematic design and then we will begin the bidding process. There are a number of things that have to take place during that process. We will go through procurement procedures for demolition and for the environmental abatement work that needs to take place.”
Slides shown at the public meetings provided a glimpse of what the building may look like after construction. The main entrance will be moved to the back and the cafeteria, which used to be on the east side of the building would be moved to the west side near Kent Place while the gym and auditoriums would remain in the same location. In January, Croce provided information to the board that indicated the estimates for completion were about $14.4 million over the approved amount for the project due to building cost escalation.
“That is common due to escalating costs and also outdated formulas during the past couple of years,” Dr. Dickerson explained at a previous board meeting. “We will keep refining the budget and square footage as we move to design development.” Dr. Croce explained that the district currently had enough in reserve funding to cover the cost, but that they would be applying for market pressure fund exceptions from the state in order to cover the additional costs.
The goal remains to have the school open for students by the fall of 2025.
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