Mike Richie
TRSD District Administrator
May Spirit Article
April 5, 2022 will be a day to remember in the Tomorrow River School District. Two referendum questions for just under 26 million dollars passed by a 60% margin. The 60% margin of approval was very accurate to what the School Perceptions Survey predicted the outcome of the referendum would be. I believe one valuable lesson we learned here was by informing the community and giving the community an opportunity to weigh in on the decision making progress, this helped with the positive outcome of the vote.
What happens next? To say the least, the work begins now. We are currently developing a timeline for the entire process. Getting the financial procedures and bidding process for the financials comes first. To assist us with this, the school district is working with Robert W. Baird & Co., which is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company and is based out of Milwaukee, WI.
We will also immediately begin doing the design work for the entire project. This has already started and should be completed by December of 2022. All of the work will then be bid out to contractors. Think of this project as being completed in three separate phases.
Phase one will be the office relocation and secure entry addition with the estimated construction period being from March of 2023 to August of 2023. Phase two will be the STEAM addition and remodeling with the estimated construction period being from June of 2023 to August of 2024. Once this portion of the project is completed, the existing tech ed/ag building will come down. Phase three of this project will include the remodeling of the middle school, family and consumer science rooms and the libraries with the estimated construction period being from April of 2024 to August of 2024.
For this project to come together, it must be completed in this particular order. The goal is that if any classrooms or office areas must be displaced at any time throughout this project, they will be moved to a different portion of the building. This is a very tight timeline and window to complete this entire project with construction running from March of 2023 through August of 2024. Any delays in shipping and receiving building materials may result in this project taking longer than projected. We are all hoping this is not the case!
We are all very excited to see this project happen and can't wait for construction to begin. A big thank you goes out to the community and voters for supporting this awesome project. Without the support of the community, this project would not be possible. Our students will really benefit from this great addition to our school. Thank you!