School facilities funds being put to work

Published by admin on Wed, 05/21/2025 - 7:00pm

Weiser’s School Board of Trustees approved expenditures for three new roofs and the replacement of the 60-year-old main gym floor during the May 12 board meeting. When the new floor is installed, it will feature updated school graphics, and updated colors to various court lines, as well as darker staining in the three-point key. New roofs will go on the high school, auxiliary gym, and Pioneer School. Photo by Nancy Grindstaff
By: 
Nancy Grindstaff
The Weiser School District will see the first $1.5 million of its total $5.9 state School Modernization Facilities fund expended this summer, with the replacement of three roofs and Weiser High School’s 60-year-old main gym floor. 
 After Idaho’s legislature passed the School Modernization Facilities funding bill in 2024, Weiser School District applied and qualified for the total $5.9 million, which they chose to receive in a lump sum. The District received the funds in three payments, and with interest earned included, the current balance is $6,477,383. 
 Rules around the state funding require the core funds to be spent only on the original designated improvement plans, while accumulated interest may be applied to ongoing maintenance in the schools.
 The District contracted with EV Studios this spring for assistance with the several bidding processes expected in facility improvements, and during the Monday, May 12, monthly WSD Board of Trustees meeting, EVS representatives Andrew Coenen and Amanda Bidwell walked the Board through each of the four bids. 
 Weiser High School’s main building roof received four total bids, with Upson Roofing’s total bid of $874,400, beating out Signature Roofing by just $900. The difference was found in the added alternate of $21,000 offered by Upson, which will also completely replace the roof over the gym, rather than reinforce it with an elastomeric coating that would add just another 10 years to its current lifespan.
 “Our professional recommendation would be to add alternate 1,” Bidwell said. I think the added cost is worth it for the added life span. Otherwise you’re going to end up doing this again in about 10 years, versus 30 to 50 years.”
 Approving the high school’s total low bid, the Trustees then considered and accepted a single bid of $229,000 from Signature Roofing for the replacement of Pioneer School’s roof, giving it a unanimous approval.
 “The option when you receive only one bid, you can reject it and take it back out to bid, or accept that bid,” Bidwell explained. “Our inclination is to accept, because we did receive a courtesy email from another roofer who had planned to bid on it… they did send in their numbers and they were quite a bit higher, so Signature would have been the low bid.”
 Bidwell said the base bid of $223,000 is to replace the whole roof with asphalt shingles, a 50-year product, and the recommended alternate of $6,000 would repair a ridge section, where two sections of the school meet, that has seen some water penetration over time.
 Now 20 years old, the low bid to replace WHS’s auxiliary gym roof was submitted by DNA Roofing in the amount of $200,615.
 Bidwell said the bid includes re-roofing the entire building with TPO, plus taking the section over the wrestling room down to the deck, adding a vapor barrier, and a new system built up from there.
 “There’s been a lot of moisture issues on that roof in particular,” Bidwell said. 
 She said some core samples had been taken, “and the full assembly had water in it.”
 “Replacing that, putting in a vapor barrier, and additional insulation should help solve that problem,” Bidwell said.
 Two bids were submitted to replace the WHS gym floor, with Hicks Brothers submitting a $187,500 base bid, plus $12,000 in an alternate to add Wolverine graphics and logos into the floor’s design. 
 Bidwell said the bid includes demoing out the old floor and reinstalling the surface with similar maple flooring. 
 “Hicks Brothers are a more local company,” Bidwell said. “I think they’ve been working quite a bit with Eric (Pfeiffer), so it’s nice to see them come in as the low bid. Alternate 1 does give you a lot of nice branding on your floor.”
 As part of the graphics design team, WHS Principal Drew Dickerson said the varied wood staining inside the three-point key, as well as the Wolverine head in the center of the court will be stained wood, rather than painted, which will prevent cracking.
 “The Wolverine head will be a lot bigger than the current one, and the Wolverines (written out) on the sides will be a little bigger,” Dickerson said.
 As well, the hierarchy of court lines between basketball and volleyball will be more distinguishable with modern coloring, Dickerson said.
 Work on all of the projects will begin soon, with the projects at the high school giving consideration to a couple of end of school year activities, and also during Weiser’s June 16-21 National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest.
 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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