South Central High School Construction Project to Begin Soon

After more than a decade of waiting, South Central School District residents will see the start of construction on their high school building in Farina early in 2017.

The project was originally on the State's construction scheduled in 2003, but financial constraints in Illinois caused the State to call a halt to the work.

Eventually, work began on an approved expansion project at the South Central Grade School in Kinmundy, which has been completed. Now, it's time to get started at the high school building.

South Central Superintendent Kerry Herdes said the school board has awarded the $7.2 million project to Littiken Construction of Breese. Poettker Construction of Breese will be the construction manager on the project.

The work slated to start March 1, 2017 will consist of eight new classrooms. Six will be built onto the west side of the existing structure, while the other two rooms will be built off the back of the gym for band and chorus use. A multi-purpose room will also be constructed that will be used as a cafeteria, including a new kitchen. There will also be a new lobby area. 

In conjunction with the construction, demolition will begin as soon as the school year ends on the core of the existing facility, the two-story structure. The goal is to have all of the work completed by January 2018.

Herdes said the gymnasium and the front east-west classroom section will be retained. Once the project is completed, the district will be left with a single-story high school facility.

The district has had to wait a long time for the project to be undertaken, but there was at least one benefit. Herdes said the bid for the high school project came in $422,000 less than when it was originally bid years ago. The local district share of the cost of both the grade school and high school projects is $3.3 million.

At the meeting last week when the bids were awarded on the high school project, the South Central board also approved a tentative fiscal year tax levy with a vote on the levy planned at the December meeting; Kim Lane was hired as a support staff employee; Jake Skibinski was approved as 5th grade basketball coach; and Luke Krutsinger was approved as 6th grade basketball coach.