Minersville Area Planning Elementary Center Renovations

MINERSVILLE - The Minersville Area School District is solicitingwritten proposals for the renovation of two classrooms in theelementary center to be completed before the 2011-12 school year.

"We are looking to bring some services back to the district,"said Jennifer C. Laudeman, district business manager.

With summer vacation started for the students, now is the perfecttime for renovations in the 70,000-square-foot school for studentsin first through sixth grades, officials said.

Laudeman said that the classrooms being renovated were originallyequal in size, but sometime in the mid 1990s they were turned into aroom for music classes that took up three-quarters of the space,while the remaining part was made into a room for more privateinstruction.

The extent of the work will be to remove and reposition a wallthat will put the classrooms back to their original specifications.

Other duties outlined in the district's request for proposalsincludes the removal of the current electrical work and otherhardware included in the wall, and the removal of carpet in one ofthe classrooms to install tile flooring. The carpet in the otherclassroom will remain unless the contractor notes reasons for notkeeping it.

The current wall will be replaced with drywall and appropriateelectrical work and other hardware, while other work includesreplacing ceiling tiles in one of the classrooms, soundproofingbetween the rooms, installing adequate lighting between the twoclassrooms and ensuring both rooms have telephone service.

In two addendums June 6 and 10, the district added that theclassrooms will need to be painted approved colors and noted thatheating, ventilation and air conditioning in one of the classroomsdoesn't need any changes. HVAC changes in the other will be handledseparately, although the initial proposal called for the contractorto verify and install adequate HVAC between the two classrooms.

The contractor is also required to obtain all permits from theborough.

Sealed proposals will be accepted until 11 a.m. June 27, and theboard's decision will be made at its regular monthly meeting at 7p.m. that day. All work on the elementary project will be completedby July 30.

At the Minersville Area school board's May meeting, it wasannounced that the high school classroom renovation project wascompleted. The project turned the former wood shop, metal shop anddrafting room into four classrooms for instructional purposes withtwo conference rooms to handle special services to students. All areequipped with Internet access.

In addition to the four-classroom conversion, the project alsotook an unused library area in the high school and converted it intoa Guidance Resource Center for students, which is equipped with 30computers offering Internet access to college and employmentinformation.