District #205 construction coming in way lower than $29.9 million budgeted says board, as plan to bring students back in-person soon

Students currently are not attending in-person instruction as preventative measure for possible COVID spike due to Thanksgiving break | File Photo

By Kyla Asbury

Dec 12, 2020

The Galesburg Community Unit School District (CUSD) #205 Board of Education may soon make a decision regarding which construction bid to accept for approval for phase two of the reworking of the Galesburg High School campus.

The Register-Mail reports that Russell Construction's Lee Marbach, senior project manager, has been working with the school district on plans for the campus by critically examining each bid received by the school and read during the November meeting. A letter from Marbach was included in the agenda, in which he said the bids were "very competitive" and noted that they were all under the overall project budget, the news media reported.

The Register-Mail reported that Marbach said the school district's original budget for the project totaled $29.9 million. Superintendent John Asplund said each on of the construction bidders have all been vetted by Russell Construction, and the project was coming in under way lower than the board had expected, The Register-Mail reported.

The construction project planned for the Galesburge High School includes a new kitchen, renovation of the auditorium, new windows and a new front drive in | Adobe Stock

As part of this project, an addition where the Galesburg Area Vocational Center is will be completed, a new drive in out front and new windows Asplund said in the new media report.

In phase one, there was a new kitchen that was completed, and the second phase will be that of renovating the auditorium, The Register-Mail reported.

Other highlights of the boards agenda included plans to discuss during next months meeting Return to Learn plan, The Register-Mail reported. The article went on to explain the district has slowly been bringing students back into buildings. It's mostly focused on special education students, English learners and younger students who were struggling and needing one-on-one attention.

“As we add more students into the mix, you are going to have teachers not able to come in,” Asplund said, the news media reported. He said that a lack of available educators was one of the problems.

In anticipation of a spike in COVID-19 cases because of the Thanksgiving break, the district chose to pause the return of students to campus until they can watch the community's numbers over the next few weeks, the news media reported.